Effects of Sea Urchin Mass Mortality (Final Outline)

This topic submitted by Sarah Ehrman ( ehrmanse@muohio.edu) at 3:45 AM on 6/7/08.

Miami has 100s of acres of beautiful Natural Areas which lend themselves to research projects! (Quicktime movie~4 mb). On the same walk, I spotted my first garter snake of the spring! In another 1 mb quicktime movie, a pair of mallard ducks lands in Harkers Run in Bachelor Woods

Tropical Field Courses -Western Program-Miami University



Topic: 1983 mass mortality of sea urchins (Diadema antillarum)
Ecological Importance: loss of keystone species has tremendous effects on the environment.

Outline:
1) Introduction
a) the mass mortality
b) mechanism
c) any recovery?
2) Short term effects
a) algal cover
b) herbivorous fishes
3) long term effects on coral reefs
a) global v. local factors for coral decline
b) sea urchin chain of effects
4) human impacts
a) western v. eastern Atlantic
b) opposing viewpoint
c) density dependent recovery assistance

Sources:
Carpenter RC. 1988. Mass mortality of a Caribbean sea urchin: Immediate effects on
community metabolism and other herbivores. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 85(2): 511-514.

Carpenter RC. 1990. Mass mortality of Diadema antillarum: Effects on population
densities and grazing intensity of parrotfishes and surgeonfishes. Marine Biology.
104(1): 79-86.

Carpenter RC. 1990. Mass mortality of Diadema antillarum: Long-term effects on sea
urchin population-dynamics and coral reef algal communities. Marine Biology. 104(1): 67-77.

Davidson OG. 1998. The Enchanted Braid: Coming to terms with nature on the coral
reef. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Gardner TA, Cote IM, Gill JA, Grant A, and Watkinson AR. 2003. Long-term region-
wide declines in Caribbean corals. Science. 301: 958-960.

Lessios HA. 2005. Diadema antillarum populations in Panama twenty years following
mass mortality. Coral Reefs 24:125-127.

Miller RJ, Adams AJ, Ebersole JP, and Ruiz E. 2007. Evidence for positive density-
dependent effects in recovering Diadema antillarum populations. Journal of
Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 349: 215-222.

Tuya F, Haroun RJ, Boyra A, Sanchez-Jerez P. 2005. Sea urchin Diadema antillarum:
different functions in the structure and dynamics of reefs on both sides of the Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 302: 307-310.



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