Coral bleaching in Belize
Jerry Wellington
wellington at uh.edu
Thu Oct 19 10:17:38 EDT 1995
Extensive coral bleaching was observed at Southwater Key and Glover's Reef
(Long Key - outer reef and lagoon) on Oct. 15-17. Transect surveys revealed
that 60% to 90% of the Montastraea colonies were partially of entirely
bleached. Bleaching was more severe in shallow water (> 10 m), particularly
on the forereef at Southwater Key. At depth, colonies of Agaricia lamarcki
were extensively bleached. Also, Agaricia agaricites, A. tenuifolia,
Madracis spp. and Porites porites revealed extensive bleaching on patch
reefs in the lagoon. Corals with limited or no observed bleaching included
Millepora spp., Porites astreoides, Montastraea cavernosa, Dendrogyra
cylindrus, Acropora palmata, A. cervicornis, Diploria spp., and Dichocoenia
stokesii.
This appears to be the first time that coral bleaching has occurred in Belize.
***************************** *
Jerry Wellington
Department of Biology
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-5513
Voice: (713) 743-2649
FAX: (713) 743-2636
e-mail: wellington at uh.edu
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