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NOAA report finds flower garden banks sanctuary reefs among healthiest in Gulf
August 13, 2009Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is among the healthiest coral reef ecosystems in the tropical Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, according to a new NOAA report.
The report, A Biogeographic Characterization of Fish Communities and Associated Benthic Habitats within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, offers insights into the coral and fish communities within the sanctuary based on data collected in 2006 and 2007. Sanctuary managers will use the report to track and monitor changes in the marine ecosystem located 70 to 115 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
"We found that 50 percent of the area surveyed for this report is covered by live coral," said Chris Caldow, a NOAA marine biologist and lead author on the report. "This is significant because such high coral cover is a real rarity and provides critical habitat for many different types of fish and other animals that live in these underwater systems."
The sanctuary is also unusual in that it is dominated by top-level predators, including large grouper, jacks, and snappers that are virtually absent throughout the U.S. Caribbean. Researchers looked at the relationship between physical measures of the sanctuary's habitat such as depth, slope and geographic location, and the nature of the fish community in each location.
"Ultimately our goal was to develop a protocol that would detect and track long-term changes in fish and sea-floor community structure," Caldow said. "Once managers are equipped with this information, they can better understand how threats from climate change and other stressors will impact the ecosystem."
The report cautions that despite the sanctuary's relatively healthy condition, it may be more susceptible to environmental impacts than previously thought. For example, scientists observed high levels of coral bleaching and corals severely impacted from hurricane activity.
NOAA prepared the report based on data collected in 2006 and 2007, with input from scientists and managers at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
NOAA Headquarters
The sanctuary is also unusual in that it is dominated by top-level predators, including large grouper, jacks, and snappers that are virtually absent throughout the U.S. Caribbean. Researchers looked at the relationship between physical measures of the sanctuary's habitat such as depth, slope and geographic location, and the nature of the fish community in each location.
"Ultimately our goal was to develop a protocol that would detect and track long-term changes in fish and sea-floor community structure," Caldow said. "Once managers are equipped with this information, they can better understand how threats from climate change and other stressors will impact the ecosystem."
The report cautions that despite the sanctuary's relatively healthy condition, it may be more susceptible to environmental impacts than previously thought. For example, scientists observed high levels of coral bleaching and corals severely impacted from hurricane activity.
NOAA prepared the report based on data collected in 2006 and 2007, with input from scientists and managers at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
NOAA Headquarters
Coral Reef Ecosystem Current Events and Coral Reef Ecosystem News RSSNew species and new records of marine species discovered in NW Hawaiian Islands
A three-week scientific expedition to French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument returned to Honolulu on Sunday with the discovery of many new species and a better understanding of marine biodiversity in the Hawaiian Archipelago.
First Biodiversity Census of coral reef ecosystems in the NW Hawaiian Islands
As part of the international Census of Marine Life (CoML), a team of world renown scientists will embark on an expedition to explore coral reef biodiversity in the largest fully protected marine area in the world-the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.
Corals switch skeleton material as seawater changes
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Scientists look to the Bahamas as a model for coral reef conservation
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Marine conservation organizations team up to conduct Indonesia coral reefs assessment
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New Caledonia Lagoon: Sediment Transport Tracking And Prediction
Researchers have for several years now been using numerical modelling in the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia to work out marine current circulation patterns and obtain detailed knowledge of its hydrodynamics. The lagoon has been subject to substantial sediment inputs generated by erosion and human activity. An IRD team has developed a combined hydrodynamic and transport model enabling them to determine the influence of the tide and the wind, essential elements current patterns, and to study the circulation of fine suspended sediment. This model, one of the first so devised to be used in a coral reef ecosystem, has become indispensable as a tool for tracking and prevention of waste ejec
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