Abstract

Sargassum is a brown pelagic seaweed that has been seasonally inundating the windward coasts of Caribbean islands and mainlands over the last 15 years. During large sargassum influxes, sargassum can settle within the nearshore where it decomposes resulting in an increase in nutrients and organic matter referred to as sargassum-brown-tide (sbt). One of the major effects of sbt is a decrease in water quality which negatively affects marine life (Carrillo et al. 2016). Several studies in Mexico found that areas covered in sbt experienced increases in organic material, turbidity, ammonium and phosphorus and decreases in illuminance, pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) (van Tussenbroek et al. 2017; Cabanillas-Terán et al. 2019). Sbt results in eutrophication due to increases in nitrogen and phosphorus, which is one of the major threats to coral reef and seagrass ecosystems (van Tussenbroek et al. 2017; Pérez-Gómez et al. 2020; Camacho-Cruz et al. 2022). Due to the proximity of some coral reefs to the nearshore, sbt can extend over them, which is concerning as corals require oligotrophic water for optimal health. To better understand how sbt affects water quality and identify any related adverse effect on corals, water quality in the nearshore and on top of coral reefs was monitored along with two species of corals on select Barbadian coral reefs.

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