Volume 75
Status of parrotfish populations on coral reefs around New Providence and Rose Island, Bahamas
Authors
Sherman, K; Gomez, M.I; Kemenes, T; Dalhgren, C.P. Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2022
Pages: 7-8
Event: Proceedings of the Seventy-Five Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Fort Walton Beach
Country: USA
Abstract
It is widely recognized that herbivorous parrotfish play critical ecological functions in sustaining healthy coral reefs. A more thorough understanding of the ecological processes that contribute to reef resilience especially in the face of a rapidly evolving climate is urgently needed for informed conservation management. We conducted fine-scale spatial and temporal analysis using an in situ data set spanning 9 years to assess the status of parrotfish populations across 26 reefs representing around New Providence and Rose Island, Bahamas. Ordination analysis through non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed two distinct parrotfish assemblages around New Providence temporally, differing between 2019 and earlier surveys, and spatially between fore- and patch-reef zones (Fig. 1; Sherman et al. 2022). Parrotfish densities declined by 59% across sites (Fig. 2; Sherman et al. 2022) and significant decreases occurred in three species: striped parrotfish (Scarus iseri), redband parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum) and greenblotch parrotfish (Sp. atomarium).