Corals on Oil and Gas Platforms Near the Flower Garden Banks: Population Characteristics, Recruitment, and Genetic Affinity.

摘要

There are approximately 3,200 oil and gas platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). These platforms provide hard substratum that extends throughout the euphotic zone, in a region where such has been rare in recent geological time. Major exceptions to this are the coral reefs of the Flower Garden Banks (FGB), approximately 180 km S-SE of Galveston, Texas, which rise up to within 17 m of the sea surface. In this study, we attempted to determine whether extensive scleractinian coral populations have colonized these platforms, quantify them, and determine their population and community characteristics. We also examined the relationship between these variables and distance from the FGB, platform age, and depth. Surveys were performed on 13 oil or gas production platforms down to 33 m depth, encompassing an ellipse around the FGB. Corals occurred in abundance on most of the platforms. Eleven species were found: eight hermatypic scleractinians, two ahermatypic scleractinians, and one hydrozoan coral. The most abundant corals were Madracis decactis, Diploria strigosa, and Tubastraea coccinea.