Coral Reef Recovery in the Galapagos Islands: The Northernmost Islands (Darwin and Wenman)

Authors

Peter W. Glynn, University of Miami
Bernhard Riegl (editor), Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Samuel J. Purkis, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Jeremy Kerr, Nova Southeastern University
Tyler B. Smith, University of the Virgin Islands

ORCID

0000-0002-6003-9324

ResearcherID

F-8807-2011; B-8552-2013

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Coral Reefs

ISSN

0722-4028

Publication Date

6-1-2015

Keywords

Galapagos coral recovery, Reef accretion, ENSO thermal bleaching, Echinoid bioerosion

Abstract

The remote northernmost Galápagos Islands, Darwin and Wenman, exhibited well-developed coral communities in 1975, which were severely degraded during the 1982–1983 El Niño warming event. Mapping of the coral reef at Darwin, herein Wellington Reef, shows it presently to be the largest known structural reef in the Galápagos. It consists of numerous 1- to 3-m-high Porites framework towers or stacks and overlies a carbonate (coral/calcareous sediments) basement. Pre-disturbance Wellington Reef was constructed chiefly by Porites lobata and Pocillopora elegans, and Wenman coral cover was dominated by Pavona clavus and Porites lobata. Subsequent surveys in 2012 have demonstrated robust recovery in spite of ENSO thermal shock events, involving both high and low stressful temperatures that have caused tissue bleaching and mortality. No losses of coral species have been observed. Radiocarbon dating of 1- to 3-m-high poritid framework stacks, from their peaks to bases, revealed modern ages of up to 690 yr. Incremental stack growth rates ranged from 0.15–0.39 to 1.04–2.40 cm yr⁻¹. The former are equivalent to framework accretion rates of 1.5–3.9 m Kyr⁻¹, the latter to coral skeletal growth rates of 1.0–2.4 cm yr⁻¹. Coral recovery in the central and southern Galápagos has been nonexistent to low compared with the northern islands, due chiefly to much higher population densities and destructive grazing pressure of the echinoid Eucidaris galapagensis. Thus, coral reef resistance to ENSO perturbations and recovery potential in the Galápagos are influenced by echinoid bioerosion that varies significantly among islands.

DOI

10.1007/s00338-015-1280-4

Volume

34

Issue

2

First Page

421

Last Page

436

Comments

©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Additional Comments

NSF grant #: OCE-0526361

NSUWorks Citation

Peter W. Glynn, Bernhard Riegl (editor), Samuel J. Purkis, Jeremy Kerr, and Tyler B. Smith. 2015. Coral Reef Recovery in the Galapagos Islands: The Northernmost Islands (Darwin and Wenman) .Coral Reefs , (2) : 421 -436. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/484.