reef at 40 meters. The dominant species in terms of density of colonies were the
boulder star, great star and maze corals (Montastrea faveolata, M. cavernosa,
Meandrina meandrites) with 0.40, 0.20 and 0.20 col/m
2
, respectively. Colonies of the
three aforementioned coral species were present in at least four out of the six transects
surveyed. The Shannon-Weiner index of diversity for scleractinian corals within videoansects averaged 1.24 (range: 1.04 – 1.56) (Table 34). Transect four presented the
ct
h
e
Figure 14.
licate trans
n t
aria
co
ien
e
n
ve
ee
ile
thi
eg
at
20
2
3
4
6
0
100
tr
highest diversity with a total of five species distributed in six colonies, whereas transe
two had the lowest diversity with three species distributed in four colonies. Transect six
presented the highest number of colonies with 11, represented by five species.
Coral species saturation reached 91 % at the fifth transect, but the curve did not reac
an asymptote by the sixth transect, which suggests that more species might be found
with increasing number of transects (Figure 14). The variability of percent live coral
cover associated with the number of replicate transects surveyed (expressed as th
variation coefficient) presented an increasing pattern reflecting the high spatial
heterogeneity of coral distribution at 40 m in the SW Wall Reef. The coefficient of
variation associated with other reef benthic categories stabilized at 20 % or less by the
fourth transect in all cases.
40
60
80
Effect of rep
ects i he v
tion effic t of th mea
substrate co r by r f sess -ben c cat ories a depth of 40 m, Isla
Desecheo, 03-04
5
20
Va
T nsec
Corals
Sponges
Abiotic
Benthic Algae
riation Coefficient (%)
ra
ts
114