Life histories and abundance patterns of colonial corals on Jamaican reefs

Large-scale patchiness within the cervicornis zone at Discovery Bay, Jamaica, before the recent hurricane was due chiefly to variations in cover of Acropora cervicornis. Montastrea annularis and Agaricia agaricites, the 2 other important species in the zone, varied less among 3 sites surveyed, though M. annularis had slightly greater cover on the exposed east forereef. Relative species abundances of corals 90 %, as compared with < 60 % for natural substrata. The difference probably reflected the smaller size of corals on experimental substrata: size differences had a significant effect on mortality on natural substrata. Five-day laboratory experiments with the omnivorous echinoid Diadema antillarum showed that its grazing activities could cause strongly size-dependent early mortality. Extrapolation suggested that a coral remaining < 3 mm in diameter for 2 to 3 mo would have only a 20 % chance of surviving longer. With minor specific differences in early growth, the small-coral abundance patterns might thus develop from recruitment patterns. In feeding experiments, the common predators Hermodice carunculata and Coralliophila abbreviata both showed a strong preference for A. cerv~cornis. Corall~oph~la also ate M. annularis, but A. agaricites was untouched. Apparently the activities of these predators alone would simply increase the relative abundance of the predominant small coral. Known routine processes in this system are insufficient to account for the abundance patterns of corals in the zone These results emphasize the need to consider long-term processes and rare events in accounting for the abundance of long-lived colonial organisms.