Status of Candidate Coral, 'ACROPORA PALMATA' and its Snail Predator in the Upper Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: 1998-2001.

摘要

The goals of this project, begun in 1998, were initially to document patterns of distribution of the corallivorous snail, Corallophila abbreviate, on it's two major coral host taxa, Acropora palmate and Montastraea spp. (annularis complex), in the Key Largo sector of the upper Florida Keys, and assess the impact these snails are having on the corals in no-take and reference sites. The approach was to survey as many reefs in the area as possible that had at least some live cover of A. palmate, the apparently preferred prey but least abundant of the two coral hosts. Snail abundance patterns were examined with regard to the population characteristics of their host corals such as colony size and condition. With the naming of Acropora palmate to the Candidate Species list in 1999, the survey gained a bit more focus on the status of the A. palmate colonies, themselves.