Biodiversity of coral reef communities in marginal environments along the north-eastern coast of Trinidad, Southern Caribbean

Belford, S.G., Phillip, D.A.T., Rutherford, M.G. , Schmidt Roach, S. and Duncan, E.J. (2019) Biodiversity of coral reef communities in marginal environments along the north-eastern coast of Trinidad, Southern Caribbean. Progress in Aqua Farming and Marine Biology, 2(1),

Abstract

A survey of the biological diversity of coral and associated reef organisms was conducted for the Salybia and Grande L’Anse reefs along the north-eastern coast of Trinidad by reviewing the literature, museum collections, and conducting field surveys between the years 2005 through 2019. Surveys conducted used the line and point intercept and quadrat techniques to gather data. If unidentified and incompletely identified specimens are not included, this study found 257 species belonging to 134 families, 23 classes, and 11 phyla. Most species belonged to Mollusca (75 species), Chordata (57), Cnidaria (43) and Arthropoda (33). Despite their proximity to each other, only 42 species were common to both reefs. Of the other species, most (178) were found at Salybia Reef. Only members of Phylum Porifera showed a greater species richness at Grande L’Anse Reef than Salybia Reef, with five and two species, respectively. This is the first complete marine biodiversity survey for the most north-eastern part of Trinidad, which includes the only fringing coral reef in Trinidad. Coral reef monitoring is essentially important in this area, as there are current plans to build a port at Grande L’Anse Reef, thus potentially destroying a valuable area of the coral reef network observed along the north-eastern coast of Trinidad.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Rutherford, Mr Mike
• Authors: Belford, S.G., Phillip, D.A.T., Rutherford, M.G., Schmidt Roach, S., and Duncan, E.J.
• College/School: University Services > Library and Collection Services > Museum and Art Gallery
• Journal Name: Progress in Aqua Farming and Marine Biology
• Publisher: eMed Publishers
• ISSN: 2640-6704