Topography and coral community of the Sisal Reefs, Campeche Bank, Yucatán, México

Hidrobiológica    2013,   23  (1):   8-41 Zarco-Perelló, S. 2et al. 28 Topography and coral community of the Sisal Reefs, Campeche Bank, Yucatán, México Topografía y comunidad coralina de los arrecifes de Sisal, Banco de Campeche, Yucatán, México Salvador Zarco-Perelló, Maite Mascaró, Rodrigo Garza-Pérez and Nuno Simoes Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación Sisal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto de Abrigo S/N, Sisal, Yucatán, 97355. México e-mail: Zarco-Perelló S., M. Mascaró, R. Garza-Pérez and N. Simoes. 2013. Topography and coral community of the Sisal Reefs, Campeche Bank, Yucatán, México. Hidrobiológica 23 (1): 28-41. ABSTRACT The Campeche Bank, Gulf of Mexico, is a region with abundant coral reef ecosystems that haven’t been studied despite providing goods and services to some human communities. This work presents the topography, coral community and conspicuous reef associated fauna of three reefs of this region: Sisal, Madagascar and Serpiente. Three-D models of reef topography were derived using a GPS-echo-sounder coupled with geostatistical methods. The coral community was assessed through composition, richness, density and size of the colonies. The size of the Sisal Reefs was bigger than other Gulf of Mexico reefs. Hard coral colonies presented an average diameter of 9 cm and an average density of 9 colonies/m2, whereas octocoral colonies averaged 11 cm in height and presented an average density of 24 colonies/m2. We found 18 hard coral and 14 octocoral species, all of them distributed in the Atlantic Ocean; however, this work is the first to report Carijoa riseii and Phyllangia americana for the Mexican reefs of the Gulf of Mexico. The conspicuous fauna consisted in species with aquaculture potential (e.g. Octopus maya, Panulirus argus, Periclimenes pedersoni) and conservation priority (i.e. Eretmochelys imbricata). This study shows that these reefs are important centers of marine life and provides a baseline for future research. Key words: Conservation, corals, geostatistics, Gulf of Mexico, octocorals. RESUMEN El Banco de Campeche (Golfo de México) es una región con múltiples arrecifes de coral que proveen bienes y servicios a las comunidades humanas y varios de ellos aún no han sido estudiados todavía. Este trabajo presenta información preliminar ó pionera sobre la topografía, la comunidad coralina y la fauna conspicua, asociada de tres arrecifes de esta región: Sisal, Madagascar y Serpiente. La topografía se obtuvo realizando muestreos batimétricos y métodos geoestadísticos. La comunidad coralina se evaluó a través de la composición, riqueza, densidad y tamaño de las colonias de corales pétreos y octocorales. Los arrecifes estudiados presentaron tamaños superiores a otros arrecifes del Golfo de México. Las colonias de corales duros presentaron diametros de 9 cm en promedio y una densidad de 9 colonias/m2, mientras que las colonias de octocorales promediaron 11 cm de altura y una densidad de 24 colonias/m2. Se registraron 18 especies de corales duros y 14 de octocorales. Entre estas Carijoa riseii y Phyllangia americana no habían sido registradas en arrecifes mexicanos del Golfo de México. Algunas de las especies conspicuas presentan potencial en acuicultura (e.g. Octopus maya, Panulirus argus y Periclimenes pedersoni) o prioridad para su conservación (i.e. Eretmochelys imbricata). El estudio muestra que estos arrecifes son importantes centros de vida marina y provee la base para futuras investigaciones. Palabras clave: Conservación, corales, geoestadística, Golfo de México, octocorales. Hidrobiológica 29 Topography and corals of the Sisal Reefs INTRODUCTION Coral reefs are important marine ecosystems that need to be protected. Coral reefs have one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world and supply multiple resources to human populations (Paulay, 1997). The 9-12% (~9 × 106 tons yr-1) of the overall global fishery biomass is extracted from coral reefs (Salvat, 1992). However, the excessive use of their resources and other environmental disturbances (e.g. global warming) are causing a fast global degradation of these ecosystems (Hughes et al., 2003; Mora, 2008). Twenty per cent of the world’s coral reefs has been already lost (MEA, 2005), causing an important decrease in fishery resources (Jackson et al., 2001; Pauly et al., 2002). This urges to plan and implement conservation measures to avoid further degradation and enhance the recovery of coral reefs (Hughes et al., 2003). The collection of baseline information is imperative to understand the dynamics of the abundance and distribution of the resources to be protected. Biological and environmental data gathered initially supports the development of further studies and helps to assess the effectiveness of the conservation efforts by comparing the changes of the community through time (Edgar et al., 2004). Pioneer studies for coral reefs must aim to gather bathymetric information because it is fundamental to determine the limits of the reefs, the distribution of habitats and species and thus the planning of scientific and conservation activities. Coral species are the main builders of the structure of coral reefs (Montaggioni & Braithwaite, 2009) and they contribute greatly to maintain the high biodiversity of the ecosystem (Done, 1997). Thus, the species abundance, composition and richness of the coral community are key variables for the assessment of coral reefs ecosystems (Alvarado et al., 2011). 200 m 23° N Serpiente reef Alacranes Obispo Cayos Arcas efs k Progreso 21 m M B. Ingleses Madagascar reef Sisal reef Ca ajor mp ree fs e Mi che no Ba r re n Cayos Arenas 19° N The present work focuses on three reefs near the coastline of the Yucatan state: Sisal, Madagascar and Serpiente (Sisal Reefs) (Fig. 1). These reefs serve as fishing grounds for the nearby human communities, such as the ports of Celestun and Sisal, which operate fishing fleets of >100 boats (Martínez-Portilla, 2008), but no studies about their physical features and sessile community exist, as other similar reefs in the region. This work presents the first description of the physical structure and benthic biological composition of the Sisal Reefs. In particular, the objectives of this study are (i) to describe their topography through the creation of high-resolution digital bathymetric models and (ii) to describe the reef communities through the composition, richness and abundance of the coral communities, and the presence of other conspicuous reef species with ecologic and economic importance. 500 m Gulf of Mexico Triangulos The Campeche Bank (Gulf of Mexico) is an example of a region with abundant coral reef ecosystems with important gaps of information. The region presents some reefs localized well offshore (>100 km), such as Alacranes reef, Cayo Arenas and Cayo Arcas, that have been subject of different studies already (JordánDahlgren, 2003; T (...truncated)