Coral-reef catastrophe

Hodgson, Gregor;Ogden, John C.;Hughes, Terrence P.

Abstract

The article" Catastrophes, phase shifts,and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef" by Terence P. Hughes (9 Sept., p.1547) relates the sad story of the decline of scleractinian coral populations in Jamaica over the past two decades. The article is a rare example of the long-term research needed to document trends on reefs; however, the monitoring program design appears to have excluded at least one potentially important causal factor, and the solution offered does not address sociopolitical reality. The data in the study by Hughes show a rapid decline of coral populations initiated by a 1980 hurricane. Coral cover declined further after the reduction of an herbivorous sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, resulting from disease, while the cover of fleshy macro-algae bloomed. Thus two natural events, hurricanes and disease, have decimated Jamaica's coral reefs. It is not clear what effect human activities have had on fleshy algae on these reefs and what, if anything, we can do to help the coral.

Journal

Science

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Volume

266

ISBN/ISSN

1095-9203

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Issue

5193

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Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

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DOI

10.1126/science.266.5193.1930-a