Coral resilience on the reefs of Jamaica

Abstract

Awareness of important factors for coral reef growth helps reveal how reef ecosystems react following major anthropogenic and environmental disturbances. Physical measurements by SCUBA divers, together with an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV), have been used to study environmental and climate effects on corals on fringing reefs in Jamaica. The period of this study, from 2002 to 2008, covers the major Caribbean-wide bleaching event of 2005. For 624 non-branching corals at Rio Bueno and Dairy Bull reef near Discovery Bay on the north coast of Jamaica, skewness values for coral populations at the two sites showed generally positive values, indicating that small colonies predominated over large colonies.