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Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems pp 47–56Cite as

The Bahamas and Cayman Islands

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Part of the book series: Coral Reefs of the World ((CORW,volume 12))

Abstract

As shallow coral reefs worldwide are increasingly degraded by natural and anthropogenic stressors, mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; ~30–150 m) represent a potential refugia that may act as seed banks for coral reef resilience. This is particularly true in the Caribbean Basin where phase shifts from coral dominance to either algal or sponge dominance have been reported with increasing frequency. However, coral reefs of the Bahamas and Cayman Islands are less impacted than other Caribbean reefs, and they offer an opportunity to assess the ecology of MCEs and the connectivity between shallow and mesophotic coral reefs. The MCEs of the Bahamas and Cayman Islands are composed of a shallow sloped upper zone (~30–60 m) and a vertical lower zone (60–100+ m). The upper MCE zone has similar biodiversity and percent cover to nearby shallow reefs, but the lower MCE zone is dominated by sponges, and it includes many species not found on shallow reefs. The ecological importance of the mesophotic sponges is unequivocal; they provide habitat for a variety of species and play a significant role in benthic-pelagic coupling via filtration of bacterioplankton, and their symbiotic microbes are sources of nitrogen cycling. Moreover, our data indicate that sponge diversity on MCEs in the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands is more similar to one another than the sponge diversity among shallow and mesophotic reefs in each region. Threats to shallow reefs (e.g., climate change and invasive species) may also impact MCEs; conservation will require mitigation of these stressors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank C. Easson, C. Fiore, D. Gochfeld, J. Jarett, L. Kintzing, L. Krentz, E. Marsh, and J. Olson for assistance with the fieldwork, and M.C. Diaz and M. Kelly for the sponge identifications. D. Gochfeld generously provided sponge data from shallow reefs for comparative analyses, as well as help with the PRIMER program. A. Woolsey developed the map, and D. Gochfeld and E. Kintzing provided photos. The staffs of the Caribbean Marine Research Center and the Little Cayman Research Centre, provided logistical support. We thank the Bahamas Department of Marine Resources and the Cayman Islands Department of Environment for providing permits for this research. All experiments conducted for this study complied with laws of the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and the United States of America. This project was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation: Divisions of Environmental Biology, and Biological Oceanography.

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  1. Department of BioMolecular Sciences, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA

    Marc Slattery

  2. School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    Michael P. Lesser

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Correspondence to Marc Slattery .

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  1. George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Yossi Loya

  2. National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Kimberly A. Puglise

  3. Biodiversity and Geosciences Program, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Queensland Museum Network, Townsville, QLD, Australia

    Tom C.L. Bridge

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Slattery, M., Lesser, M.P. (2019). The Bahamas and Cayman Islands. In: Loya, Y., Puglise, K., Bridge, T. (eds) Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92735-0_3

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