Acknowledgements

Many people have contributed to the material presented in this paper. Roberto Acevedo made transects at Ponce and La Parguera for his MS Thesis and Rafe Boulon did transects at La Parguera for his thesis. Both theses were part of a degree from the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico RUM. Students taking my classes from me or graduate studies under me, participated in many of the coral reef surveys. Part of the work done in the 1980's was supported by a grant from the Sea Grant College Program and Lucy Williams assisted in the surveys. Surveys in the 1990's were partly supported by Earthwatch International. Robin Bruckner assisted in the Earthwatch surveys. Surveys at Mayaguez and Ponce were supported by contracts from Malcolm Pirnie Incorporated.

Because of different techinques of measurement, no data from Carlos Goenaga or Jorge Garcia were used in this paper, but their information about reef locations was gratefully accepted. Matt Kendal supplied spot check information on bottom type on the west carbonate platform and La Parguera. A seed money grant from the Sea Grant College Program in 2000 and a research grant in 2001 has allowed us to complete the work for this paper.

Thanks also go to Jose Mari Mutt for sponsoring the concept of electronic publication which is a new and important tool for reporting scientific research.

References Cited

Acevedo, R., J. Morelock, and R. A. Olivieri. 1989. Modification of coral reef zonation by terrigenous sediment stress. Palaios 4: 92-100.

Almy, Jr. C. C., and C. Carrión Torres. 1963. Shallow-water stony corals of Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 3 : 133-62.

Boulon Jr., R. H. 1980. "Patterns of coral community structure and species diversity of a submerged shelf-edge reef off southwestern Puerto Rico." master's thesis, University of Puerto Rico, 61 p.

Bruckner, A. W., and R. J. Bruckner. 1998. Emerging infections on the reefs. Science 276: 1978-79.

Cortes, Jorge, and Michael J. Risk. 1985. A reef under siltation stress: Cahuita, Costa Rica. Bull. Marine Science 36: 339-56.

Corredor, J., J. M. Morell and J. Bauza. 1999. Atmospheric nitrous oxide fluxes from mangrove sediments. Marine Pollution Bull. 38: 473-478

Cruise, J. F., and R. L. Miller. 1994. Interpreting the water quality of Mayagüez Bay, Puerto Rico, using remote sensing, hydrologic modeling, and coral reef productivity. Proceedings of the Second Thematic Conference. Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments, 193-203.

Firman, J. C., P. W. Glynn, and Luis Ferrer. 1999. Coral communities of La Parguera, Puerto Rico: current condition and thirty years of change. International Conference on Scientific Aspects of Coral Reef Assessment, Monitoring, and Restoration, abstr.

Garcia-Sais, J. R., R. Armstrong, and J. Capella. 1998. "The Mayagüez Bay ecosystem study: Evaluation of marine community responses to a water quality restoration initiative." University of Puerto Rico, RUM, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 174 p.

Garcia-Sais, J. R., and R. L. Castro. 1999. Fish - coral associations in shallow reefs around Puerto Rico. International Conference on Scientific Aspects of Coral Reef Assessment, Monitoring, and Restoration, abstr.

Garcia-Sais, Jorge R., R. L. Castro and J. Sabater Clavel. 1999. "Isla Caja de Muertos, Bosque Seco de Guánica, Bahia de Mayagüez, Cordillera de Fajardo." Coral Reef Communities from Natural Reserves in Puerto Rico, US Coral Reef Initiative (NOAA) and Department of Natural and Environment Resources, Puerto Rico.

Garcia-Sais, J. R., J. Morelock, R. L. Castro, C. Goenaga , and Edwin Hernandez. in press. Puertorican reefs: research synthesis, present threats and management perspectives.

Glynn, P. W. 1973. Ecology of a Caribbean coral reef. The Porites reef-flat biotope. II. Plankton community with evidence for depletion. Marine Biology 22: 21.

Goenaga, C. 1988. "The distribution and growth of Montastraea annularis (Ellis and Solander) in Puerto Rican inshore platform reefs." Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Puerto Rico, 186 p.

Goenaga, C. and G. Cintrón. 1979. "Inventory of the Puerto Rican Coral Reefs." Department of Natural Resources, San Juan, P.R

Goenaga, C. and J. Morelock. 1983. Distribution of three reef corals. Amer. Chemical Soc. and Center of Resources for Sciences, Puerto Rico, abstract.

Goreau, T. F. and N. I. Goreau. 1973. The ecology of Jamaican coral reefs Part II. Geomorphology, zonation, and sedimentary phases. Bull. Mar. Sci. 23: 399-464.

Hallock, P. and W. Schlager. 1986. Nutrient excess and the demise of coral reefs and carbonate platforms. Palaios 1: 389-98.

Hubbard, D. K., I. P. Gill, R. B. Burke, and J. Morelock. 1996. Holocene reef backstepping -- southwestern Puerto Rico shelf. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, 1779-84.

James, N. P. and R. N. Ginsburg. 1979. The morphology, sediments and organisms of the deep barrier reef and fore-reef. The Seaward Margin of Belize Barrier and Atoll Reefs. Spec. Publ. 3. Noel P. James, and Robert N. Ginsburg, 25-64. London: International Assoc. of Sedimentologists.

Knowlton, N., E. Weil, L. A. Weight and H. M. Guzman. 1992. Sibling species in Montastraea annularis, coral bleaching, and the coral climate record. Science 255: 330-333.

Lasker, H. R. 1980. Sediment rejection by reef corals: The roles of behavior and morphology in Montastraea cavernosa. Jour. of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 47: 1158-59.

Lighty, R. G., I. G. Macintyre, and R. Stuckenrath. 1982. Acropora palmata reef framework: a reliable indicator of sea level in the western Atlantic for the past 10,000 years. Coral Reefs 1: 125-30.

Logan, B. W. 1969. Coral Reefs and Banks, Yucatan Shelf, Mexico (Yucatan Reef Unit). Carbonate Sediments and Reefs, Yucatan Shelf, Mexico. Memoir 11. Brian W. Logan, 129-98. Tulsa, Okla.: Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists.

Loya, Y. 1976. Effects of water turbidity and sedimentation on the community structure of Puerto Rican corals. Bull. Marine Science 26: 450-466.

Morelock, J., K. Boulon, and G. Galler. 1979. Sediment stress and coral reefs. Symp. Energy Industry and the Marine Environment in Guayanilla Bay, Ed J. M. Lopez, 46-58.

Morelock, J., J. Capella, J. R. Garcia, and M. Barreto. 2000. PUERTO RICO - Seas at the Millennium. Seas at the Millennium. Ed. C. R. C. Sheppard. London, England: Oxford Press.

Morelock, J., K. A. Grove, and M. L. Hernandez-Avila. 1983. Oceanography and patterns of shelf sediments, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Jour. Sedimentary Petrology 53, no. 2: 371-81.

Morelock, J., N. Schneidermann, and W. R. Bryant. 1977. Shelf reefs, southwestern Puerto Rico. Reefs and Related Carbonates - Ecology and Sedimentology. Studies in Geology 4. Eds. Stanley H. Frost, Malcolm P. Weiss, and John B. Saunders, 17-25. Tulsa, Okla.: American Association Petroleum Geologists.

Morelock, J., E. Winget, and C. Goenaga. 1994. "Marine geology of the Parguera-Guánica guadrangles, Puerto Rico." USGS Misc. Map Series, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.

Ramirez Martinez, W. R. 1992. "Quantitative study on the horizontal variations in patterns of coral community structure and species diversity within Enrique Reef in La Parguera." M.S., University of Puerto Rico, 90 p.

Rogers, C. S. 1977. "The response of a coral reef to sedimentation." PhD dissertation, Univ. of Florida, 196 p.

Smith, S. V., W. J. Kimmerer, E. A. Laws, R. E. Brock, and T. W. Walsh. 1981. Kaneohe Bay sewage diversion experiment: Perspectives on ecosystem responses to nutritional perturbation. Pacific Science 35: 279-395.

Torres, J. L. 1998. "Effects of sediment influx on the linear extension rates of Montastraea annularis in southwest Puerto Rico." master's thesis, University of Puerto Rico RUM, 133 p.

Torres, J. L., J. Morelock, and A. I. Mosquera. 1996. Preliminary study on the effects of sediment influx on the skeletal density and lipids production of two massive coral species. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium.

Trias, J. L. 1991. Marine Geologic Map of the Puerto Rico Insular Shelf, Guanica to Ponce Area, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.

Vicente, V. P. 1985. Overgrowth activity by the encrusting sponge Chondrilla nucula on a coral reef in Puerto Rico. Third International Conference on the Biology of Sponges

Vicente, V. P. 1994. Structural changes and vulnerability of a coral reef (Cayo Enrique) in La Parguera, Puerto Rico. Proceedings of colloquium on Global aspects of coral reefs; health, hazards and history, Ed. Robert N. Ginsburg, 227-32.

Webb, R. M. T., P. D. Collar, W. C. Schwab, and C. Goenaga. 1994. "Mayagüez Outfall Assessment of the Biota, Sediments, and Water Quality." U.S. Geological Survey, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 196 p.

Williams Jr., E. H., and L. B. Williams. 1988. Caribbean marine mass mortalities. Oceanus 30: 69-75.

Williams, L. B., J. Morelock, and E. H. Williams Jr. 1991. Lingering effects of the 1987 mass bleaching of coral reef symbionts on southwest Puerto Rico reefs in mid to late 1988. Aquat. Anim. Health 3: 242-47.