Publications

The study used REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project database to produce a new map of marine fish biodiversity across the Caribbean and tropical western Atlantic. The work, performed by scientists from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution & Climate in Denmark and the Marine Biological Association, studied REEF’s extensive data base collected by our volunteer surveyors to produce the map and find that fish biodiversity is strongly linked to sea temperatures. However, results also show that while fish biodiversity is higher in warmer waters, the very hottest sites in fact have fewer species than sites with intermediate temperatures, something not shown before in previous studies. These results will be of concern given the rising water temperatures in the region. For more details, see this REEF enews article.

From 1958-67, Walter A. Starck II conducted marine biological studies in the area of Alligator Reef, off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys, these included extensive fish collecting. In 1968, he published A list of fishes of Alligator Reef.

Over the half-century since the original Alligator Reef survey, there have been great advances in the taxonomy of Greater Caribbean reef fishes, with numerous changes in scientific names and classification. As part of the update these changes are addressed so as to bring the list to current status.

In 2013 the junior authors (REEF Advanced Assessment Team members) undertook a four-year census of the fishes of the area with a goal to photo-document as many of their sightings as possible. This effort has subsequently entailed 1039 combined dives devoted to fish counts, photographic documentation, or both. During these surveys, they have photographed 278 of the species reported by Starck (1968) plus 35 additional and/or newly described or reclassified species not recorded in the earlier study.

An update of the checklist of fishes of Alligator Reef and environs some fifty years later provides an unparalleled opportunity to evaluate the species richness for a limited reef area, as well as a unique opportunity to explore changes in diversity over a half-century time scale. In the updated study the authors added 107 species and subtracted 5 from the original total of 516 species: thus the checklist now totals 618 species, of 122 families, the most recorded for any similarly sized area in the New World. The additional species records are made up from a number of subsequent collections as well as from a comprehensive effort by the junior authors.

Among the other databases of relevance to the study area used for comparison, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean by D.R. Robertson & J. Van Tassell and that of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF).

REEF maintains an online database of worldwide visual fish-count surveys conducted by volunteer researchers and fish-count enthusiasts. While such surveys are biased towards easily observed species, they are indicative for a large portion of the reef fish fauna and comprise a valuable source of comparative information (Schmitt & Sullivan 1996, Pattengill-Semmens & Semmens 2003, Holt et al. 2013). The local REEF data includes that of the Estapés, who have conducted 185 roving-diver REEF surveys on Alligator Reef. An additional 1807 surveys at 94 sites in the study area have also been conducted by other REEF volunteers (as of July, 3, 2016).

Sea star wasting disease has devastated sea star populations on the West coast from Mexico to Alaska. The disease broke out in 2013, causing massive death of several species of sea stars. Infected animals develop lesions that eat away tissue, with limbs dropping off as the animals die. The disease has been linked to a virus, although environmental factors may also be involved. This study presents an analysis of REEF survey data on several asteroid species collected by divers in the Salish Sea over the last 15 years.

The results showed that some species were hit hard, while others increased in number. Populations of sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), an important keystone predator in the region, dropped dramatically after the beginning of the epidemic. Several other sea star species, including the spiny pink star (Pisaster brevispinus) also declined. Numbers of the less-common leather star (Dermasterias imbricate) and two species of sea urchin, which are prey for sea stars, increased after 2013.

The virus outbreak continues, and will have lasting effects on the ecosystem. Sunflower sea stars have effectively disappeared from the Salish Sea, the study concludes. Likely as a result, numbers of urchins have increased, which in turn will lead to more browsing on kelp. As a result, study co-author, Dr. Joe Gaydos, and his colleagues are currently in discussions with the National Marine Fisheries Service to get the sunflower sea star listed as a “species of concern.”

This paper is the introduction to a special issue of the journal, Marine Ecology Progress Series, titled "Invasion of Atlantic coastal ecosystems by Pacific lionfish". The issue is a compilation of papers presented at the 2015 special session of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute meeting, which was co-organized by REEF and partner organizations. New findings include mechanisms that enhance the success of the invader, the extremely broad and variable diet of invasive lionfish, the ecological effects of the invader on native fish populations in various environmental contexts, and non-consumptive interactions between invasive lionfish and native predators. The entire issue is available online at http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v558/#theme.