{"id":1217,"date":"2023-07-01T11:46:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T11:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/?page_id=1217"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:13:25","slug":"coral-reefs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/lit-links\/bb-links\/coral-reefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Coral Reefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the regional Coral Reef Literature especially pertinent to Barbados Reefs<\/em><\/p>\n

– Historical and modern data sources reveal long-term declines in Caribbean coral reef water quality<\/strong><\/a>
\nKatie Cramer et al., 2026 (Preprint) “… We utilized particularly well-studied reefs as case studies to showcase the varying trajectories354 and ecological causes and consequences of reef water quality change, focusing on reefs within the following five locations: (1) Discovery Bay, Jamaica, (2) Central and Southern Belize, (3) Quintana Roo, Mexico, (4) Barbados, and (5) Florida Keys, USA…Barbados:Coral reefs in Barbados have a long history of human impacts including heavy fishing and nutrient runoff from urban and agricultural areas and provides an example of the interacting effects of increased eutrophication and declining herbivory (grazing) on reef ecosystem functioning. Qualitative descriptions and quantitative surveys\u00a0 of the reefs fringing the west coast of the island indicate that live coral cover began declining as early as the 1960s and macroalgae began increasing in the 1970s. Following hurricane Allen in 1980, coral was further depleted along the entire coast . Reef surveys of water quality and coral cover along the west coast of the island that occurred just prior to the widespread die-off of the keystone herbivore D. antillarum urchin in 1983\/1984 provide helpful insights into the impacts of rapid land development on corals before the onset of coral bleaching and coral and urchin disease outbreaks . These surveys identified a north-south gradient of increasing eutrophication and decreasing Diadema densities , suggesting that (a) coral was already rapidly declining before the reduction in grazing possibly due to elevated nutrient levels, and (b) the still relatively high grazing rates initially controlled benthic algae abundance and composition. These early surveys also suggest that by the 1980s, algal growth rates were likely already near or at a maximum and corals were therefore already physiologically impaired and more susceptible to storm-induced damage, disease and algal overgrowth along the entire coast. By the 1990s, the entire coastline was nutrient saturated, and reefs were generally algae-dominated. A recent study that mapped these patterns in space and time within a multi-stressor framework showed that the trajectory of benthic cover over time in Barbados can be explained as a function of both eutrophication and reduced grazing.”[ref citations removed]<\/small><\/p>\n

– Growth rates of coral reefs peaked at 25 \u00b0C through the Holocene<\/strong><\/a>
\nTonya Macedo & Robert van Woesik 2026 in PLOS “For millennia, corals have built coral-reef structures upon the remains of past generations of coral skeletons, forming the world\u2019s most diverse marine ecosystems. Yet, ocean warming and regional and local disturbances are reducing the capacity of coral reefs to grow and keep pace with sea-level rise. Understanding which environmental and climatic conditions influenced reef growth in the past, when human populations were small, may help us understand how reefs respond to contemporary environmental changes. Using coral cores dating back 11,700 calibrated years before present (yr BP) from 291 sites across the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, we examined the relationships between seven environmental and climatic variables and coral-reef growth using a spatial-temporal Bayesian mixed model and a deep-learning neural-network analysis. Our results show a positive relationship between the rate of change in sea level and reef growth. Reef growth responded nonlinearly to sea-surface temperature, peaking at ~25 \u00b0C, during the Holocene Thermal Maximum, between ~7,000 and ~5,500 yrs BP. During this period, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were ~325 parts per million (ppm) by volume. Our findings reveal that atmospheric CO2 levels currently exceeding 335 ppm, combined with sea-surface temperatures and modern marine heatwaves, are less than optimal for contemporary coral-reef growth, inhibiting their ability to keep pace with sea-level rise.”<\/small><\/p>\n

– Coral species from another ocean may be the only way to save Caribbean reefs<\/strong><\/a>
\nAlejandro E. Camacho, et al., 2026 in PNAS “At a conservation meeting in Miami, Florida, last month aimed at discussing the plight of local coral reefs, a previously unthinkable idea was on the agenda. Scientists, legal scholars, policymakers, ethicists, and coral conservation practitioners explored whether the situation is now so dire that we should consider shipping coral species from the Indo-Pacific region thousands of miles away to be planted in western Atlantic waters. Based on the best available information, we believe the answer is yes: Western Atlantic reefs are in terminal decline, and we must be open to researching even the most radical solutions to save them.”<\/p>\n

– Crustose coralline algae can contribute more than corals to coral reef carbonate production<\/strong><\/a>
\nCornwall, C.E Commun Earth Environ 4, 105 (2023).“The long-term development of coral reef frameworks and the net vertical accretion of reefs fundamentally underpins the provisioning of most reef-related ecosystem services. One area of particular concern at present is how rates of reef accretion are changing under ecological decline and what the consequences of this may be for the capacity of reefs to keep pace with near-future sea-level rise (SLR)…The review explores the advantages and limitations of these different approaches and outlines options for developing an integrated framework to link past, present and future reef accretion potential.”<\/small><\/p>\n

– Coral restoration can drive rapid increases in reef accretion potential<\/strong><\/a>
\nL.T. Toth et al., 2025 in Nature<\/em> “Coral-reef degradation is disrupting the balance between reef accretion and erosion and threatening the persistence of essential coral-reef habitats. In south Florida, most reefs are already net eroding, and without intervention, valuable ecosystem services may be lost. Coral restoration holds the potential to reverse those trends; however, typical restoration monitoring does not adequately capture key geo-ecological functions. We addressed this knowledge gap using carbonate budgets and Structure-from-Motion models to evaluate the impact of coral restoration on reef-accretion potential and structural complexity at eight offshore and three inshore coral reefs in the Lower Florida Keys. Within 2\u20136 years following outplanting, restoration of rapidly growing A. cervicornis populations increased reef-accretion potential to 2.8 mm y\u2212\u20091 and drove significant increases in structural complexity. There was no measurable impact of restoring slower-growing, massive corals on reef-accretion potential inshore; however, whereas the severe 2023 coral-bleaching event immediately following our study caused near-complete mortality of A. cervicornis, 59% of massive corals survived, highlighting potential trade-offs between coral growth and survival on future restoration efficacy. We conclude that although restoration can produce rapid, small-scale increases in reef-accretion potential, there remain important uncertainties about how and whether ecosystem-scale benefits of restoration on important geo-ecological reef functions can persist long term.”<\/small><\/p>\n

– Quantifying coral reef accretion in a changing world: approaches, challenges and emerging opportunities<\/strong><\/a>
\nDidier M de Bakker et al. 2025 in Cambridge Prisms Coastal Futures<\/em><\/p>\n

– The Caribbean Coral Reef: A Record of an Ecosystem Under Threat<\/a> <\/strong>(Book)
\nByWilliam K. Sacco, 2023. CRC Press.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nView: Introduction<\/a>, The Structure of a Reef<\/a>..<\/p>\n

– An emerging coral disease outbreak decimated Caribbean coral populations and reshaped reef functionality<\/a><\/strong>
\nL Alvarez-Fili et al., 2021 “Diseases are major drivers of the deterioration of coral reefs, linked to major declines in coral abundance, reef functionality, and reef-related ecosystems services1-3. An outbreak of a new disease is currently rampaging through the populations of the remaining reef-building corals across the Caribbean region. The outbreak was first reported in Florida in 2014 and reached the northern Mesoamerican reef by summer 2018, where it spread across the ~ 450-km reef system only in a few months4. Rapid infection was generalized across all sites and mortality rates ranged from 94% to < 10% among the 21 afflicted coral species. This single event further modified the coral communities across the region by increasing the relative dominance of weedy corals and reducing reef functionality, both in terms of functional diversity and calcium carbonate production. This emergent disease is likely to become the most lethal disturbance ever recorded in the Caribbean, and it will likely result in the onset of a new functional regime where key reef-building and complex branching acroporids (a genus apparently unaffected) will once again become conspicuous structural features in reef systems with yet even lower levels of physical functionality.”<\/p>\n

– The transformation of Caribbean coral communities since humans<\/strong><\/a>
\nCramer KL, wt al., 2021 in Ecology and Evolution<\/em> 11:10098-10118. “The mass die-off of Caribbean corals has transformed many of this region\u2019s reefs to macroalgal-dominated habitats since systematic monitoring began in the 1970s. Although attributed to a combination of local and global human stressors, the lack of long-term data on Caribbean reef coral communities has prevented a clear understanding of the causes and consequences of coral declines. We integrated paleoecological, historical, and modern survey data to track the occurrence of major coral species and life-history groups throughout the Caribbean from the prehuman period to the present. The regional loss of Acropora corals beginning by the 1960s from local human disturbances resulted in increases in the occurrence of formerly subdominant stress-tolerant and weedy scleractinian corals and the competitive hydrozoan Millepora beginning in the 1970s and 1980s. These transformations have resulted in the homogenization of coral communities within individual countries. However, increases in stress-tolerant and weedy corals have slowed or reversed since the 1980s and 1990s in tandem with intensified coral bleaching and disease. These patterns reveal the long history of increasingly stressful environmental conditions on Caribbean reefs that began with widespread local human disturbances and have recently culminated in the combined effects of local and global change.”<\/p>\n

– A Tale of Two Bermudas<\/strong><\/a>
\nGeoff Hurley in the Halifax Chronicle Herald Dec 20, 2025
\nAbout Bermuda but relevant to Barbados and other Caribbean islands “…as a retired fish\u00ader\u00adies bio\u00adlo\u00adgist I was sur\u00adprised to learn once we got there that Ber\u00admuda is an island com\u00adplex sur\u00adroun\u00added by waters with an eco\u00adlo\u00adgical col\u00adlapse in pro\u00adgress…Ber\u00admuda is an import\u00adant \u201cdevel\u00adop\u00admental hab\u00aditat\u201d for juven\u00adile green turtles. The green turtle, once hunted to near extinc\u00adtion, is now a cel\u00adeb\u00adrated con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtion vic\u00adtory. Dec\u00adades of work pro\u00adtect\u00ading nest\u00ading beaches and redu\u00adcing har\u00advest\u00ading mainly in other Mid-atlantic and Carib\u00adbean jur\u00adis\u00addic\u00adtions (green turtles rarely nest in Ber\u00admuda) has helped pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions rebound. But this tri\u00adumph is only half the story. The abund\u00adance of sharks, apex pred\u00adat\u00adors, that reside or pass through Ber\u00admuda waters has been declin\u00ading for dec\u00adades primar\u00adily due to over\u00adfish\u00ading in local and inter\u00adna\u00adtional waters. With their nat\u00adural pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion con\u00adtrol dimin\u00adished, the recov\u00ader\u00ading turtles have found them\u00adselves in an eco\u00adlo\u00adgical vacuum. This twin leg\u00adacy of pro\u00adtec\u00adtion and pred\u00ada\u00adtion has spawned a silent under\u00adwa\u00adter emer\u00adgency: severe over\u00adgraz\u00ading of seagrass mead\u00adows. Where once lush under\u00adwa\u00adter prair\u00adies waved, vital nurs\u00ader\u00adies for fish and car\u00adbon-stor\u00ading power\u00adhouses, now lie bar\u00adren stretches of sand, a sub\u00admar\u00adine dust bowl. The turtles, in their hungry suc\u00adcess, are lit\u00ader\u00adally eat\u00ading them\u00adselves out of house and home thereby degrad\u00ading a found\u00ada\u00adtional eco\u00adsys\u00adtem. This isn\u2019t mere land\u00adscape alter\u00ada\u00adtion; it\u2019s the sys\u00adtem\u00adatic loss of a crit\u00adical hab\u00aditat, with juven\u00adile turtles now stun\u00adted and under\u00adweight, graz\u00ading on ever-thin\u00adner resources…The crisis deep\u00adens at the reef \u2019s edge. Ber\u00admuda\u2019s coral reefs, already facing the global stressors of global warm\u00ading and acid\u00adi\u00adfic\u00ada\u00adtion, now bear an addi\u00adtional, loc\u00adal\u00adized bur\u00adden. The seagrass mead\u00adows, in their healthy state, acted as water-fil\u00adtra\u00adtion sys\u00adtems and sed\u00adi\u00adment traps. Their loss means more silt and nutri\u00adents wash onto the cor\u00adals, exacer\u00adbat\u00ading dis\u00adease and smoth\u00ader\u00ading del\u00adic\u00adate polyps. The vibrant, com\u00adplex reef city, which buf\u00adfers the island from storm waves and sup\u00adports fish\u00ader\u00adies, is being under\u00admined by the fam\u00adine on the adja\u00adcent seabed…This presents a pro\u00adfound con\u00adtra\u00addic\u00adtion. How can a soci\u00adety adept at man\u00adaging its fin\u00adances, its infra\u00adstruc\u00adture and its ter\u00adrestrial envir\u00adon\u00adment appear almost para\u00adlyzed in the face of this slow-motion under\u00adwa\u00adter dis\u00adaster?<\/small><\/p>\n

REEFS OF THE GRENADINES (DRAFTING<\/em>)<\/p>\n

– A preliminary description of the coral reefs of the Tobago Cays, Grenadines, West Indies<\/strong><\/a>
\nJohn B. Lewis 31 Dec 1974 in the Atoll Research Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n

Tobago Cays<\/a>
\nWikipedia<\/p>\n

– Grenadines Island Group (Grenada)<\/strong><\/a>
\nUNESCO Document “Description <\/strong>The Grenadines are a group of 35 small islands located between Grenada and St. Vincent in the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. They stretch over a distance of 90 km from the Island of London Bridge in the south to Bequia in the north. The natural boundary of the site approximates to the Grenadine Shelf, which is some 50m deep and falls off steeply in the Tobago Trough. Geographically, the area lies along the interface of the Caribbean and South American Tectonic plates. Several active undersea mounts (e.g. Kick\u2019em Jenny) attest to the on-going movement of these plates. The international boundary between Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines runs east to west across the bank between Petit Martinique and Petit St. Vincent. Nonetheless, the links among all the Grenadine Islands on both sides of the boundary are historically strong and continue to be active. Fishing, informal trade, tourism and island social life proceed with little attention to the boundary. In both countries \u2018mainlanders\u2019 concede that the connections among the Grenadine islands are in most cases stronger than those with the main island. Efforts by the two countries to conserve coral reef biodiversity can be seen as contributing to reef biodiversity conservation at the regional level.”<\/small><\/p>\n

– Though She Be But Little: Resource Resilience, Amerindian Foraging, and Long-Term Adaptive Strategies in the Grenadines, West Indies<\/strong><\/a>
\nChristina M. Giovas June 2016 The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology<\/em> 11(2):1-26
\n“Because small islands are frequently associated with spatially heterogeneous, biodiverse marine environments that readily exceed the productive capacity of their associated terrestrial habitat, it has been argued that these were attractive settlement locations for people due to the rich aquatic resource base they provided. I examine this proposition for the small West Indian island of Carriacou (32 km2), situated in the Grenadines micro-archipelago, in light of recent zooarchaeological findings for two of its major archaeological sites, Sabazan and Grand Bay, where a millennium of sustainable marine foraging is evidenced. While reliance on abundant marine resources clearly contributed to the long-term occupation of Sabazan and Grand Bay, fine-grained analysis of the fish and invertebrate remains suggests that abundance alone does not explain settlement persistence. I argue that the key to understanding the lengthy prehistoric occupation of Grand Bay and Sabazan lies in the structure of its marine environments, especially the functional and response diversity of targeted prey, and the flexibility of Amerindian foraging strategies. Settlement viability on Carriacou did not rest solely on the importance of marine resource extraction, but more specifically on the resilience of the marine environments exploited and the behavior of foragers in relation to this.”<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the regional Coral Reef Literature especially pertinent to Barbados Reefs – Historical and modern data sources reveal long-term declines in Caribbean coral reef water quality Katie Cramer et al., 2026 (Preprint) “… We utilized particularly well-studied reefs as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":88,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1217","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8996,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1217\/revisions\/8996"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versicolor.ca\/barbados\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}