Effects of Hurricane Hugo (1989) on a coral reef in St. John, USVI

In January 1989, a long-term study site was established on a coral reef off the south coast of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.Five 20 m transects were installed at depths of ca 11 to 13 m.Hurricane Hugo struck St. John on September 17 and 18, 1989 Analysis of quantitative data collected before and after the storm allowed documentation of the effects of this powerful storm on coral community structure.The total living cover by scleractinians, including the dominant species, Montastrea annularis, decreased significantly.The amount of substrate available for colonization increased.Cover by macroscopic algae increased dramatically after the storm, later decreased, and then rose again 1 yr later.In spite of the reduction in live cover by the dominant coral species, neither diversity (H') nor evenness (J') increased.Topographical complexity, estimated from calculations of spatial indices, did not decrease along the transects as a result of the storm.No measurable recovery of the live corals has occurred in the 12 mo following the initial post-storm survey.