Abstract

One important criterion in the design of marine protected areas (MPA) is the representation of habitats essential for species to complete their life cycles. Some coral reef fishes are dependent on mangrove and seagrass habitats during early life stages therefore habitat connectivity is important in structuring the coral reef fish community. Mona Island MPA in Puerto Rico provides an opportunity to assess habitat connectivity throughout an entire isolated seascape. This remote oceanic island includes a diversity of habitats, lacks submerged mangroves and has a limited distribution of seagrass habitat. The distribution of resident schools of adult grunts and snappers throughout the insular platform is compared to the distribution of juveniles in near shore habitats in order to assess the extent and limitations of the connectivity among habitats through ontogeny. Belt transects in shallow near shore habitats and roving transects in deeper areas around the island were used to quantify and map the most abundant grunt and snapper species. Juveniles were encountered mostly in seagrass and bedrock habitats near shore, although this varied among species. Throughout the shelf, schools of adults were encountered in 20% of the deeper sampling points in coral reef (linear, patch, spur and groove) and colonized bedrock (boulders) habitats, suggesting the use of high relief areas for refuge. The distribution of large schools of adult grunts and snappers varied among species and was dependent upon the distance from habitats where juveniles were observed, as well as the availability and patch size of habitats where adults were observed. Based on this data the challenge to include connected habitats within an MPA is species specific and unique for each location

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