Document Type
Article
Abstract
Colonies of Oculina varicosa were collected from nearshore, mid-shelf, and shelf-edge reefs off central eastern Florida. The shelf-edge reefs are inundated episodically throughout the year by upwelling of cool, nutrient rich water. On the inner shelf, cyclic seasonal factors predominate and upwelling intrudes only for a few weeks during the summer. Growth rates of the coral are significantly greater on the shelf-edge reefs than nearshore, even though at the shelf-edge temperatures are cooler and the coral lacks zooxanthellae. Species diversities of assemblages of decapods and mollusks associated with the coral are greater at the shelf-edge reef than at the mid- and inner-shelf reefs. It is suggested that the upwelling of nutrient rich water onto the shelf-edge Oculina reefs enhances the growth rate of the coral and facilitates the greater species diversity of the associated faunal communities compared to the inner-shelf reefs.
Publication Date
1983
Recommended Citation
This article may be cited as: Reed, J. K. (1983). Nearshore and shelf-edge Oculina coral reefs: the effects of upwelling on coral growth and on the associated faunal communities. In M.L. Reaka-Kudla (Ed.), The ecology of deep and shallow coral reefs: Results of a workshop on coral reef ecology held by the American Society of Zoologists, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1983. (pp. 119-124). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Office of Undersea Research.
Comments
Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution #355.