Size-frequency distribution of coral assemblages in insular shallow reefs of the Mexican Caribbean using underwater photogrammetry.

ABSTRACT: The characterisation of changes in coral communities depends heavily on systematic monitoring programs and the collection of necessary metrics to assess reef health. Coral cover is the most used metric to determine reef health. The current organizational shift in coral requires the evaluation of complementary metrics, such as colony size and frequency distributions, which help to infer the responses of the coral populations to local stress or larger scale environmental changes. In this study, underwater digital photogrammetry techniques were used to assess the live cover of all coral colonies ≥3 cm² and determine the size-frequency distribution of the dominant species in the shallow reefs of the Cozumel Reefs National Park (CRNP). In addition, the minimum sampling area (m^2<

SUBMITTER: Hernandez-Landa RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7169971 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature