Reef structure of the Florida Reef Tract for the period 2005-2020.

ABSTRACT: Shallow-water coral reefs of the Florida Reef Tract compose the third largest reef in the world, but during the last several decades, scleractinian (stony) corals have suffered unprecedented declines from global and local stressors. A program to evaluate the effects of high-temperature bleaching events was initiated by The Nature Conservancy's Florida Reef Resilience Program in 2005 and surveys have been completed across at least some portion of the entire region every year since. The program adopted a demographic (colony-based) assessment approach, which records colony species, size (height and maximum diameter), and estimated partial mortality (percent barren skeleton). Because reef structure is critical to ecosystem functioning and services, data from 2005 to 2020 were analyzed to descr

SUBMITTER: Fisher WS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10516784 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature