Seychelles Lagoon Provides Corals with a Refuge from Bleaching
Figure 2
Stony coral percent
cover and mortality at Ile Alphonse,
Seychelles, surrounding
the 1997-1998 bleaching episode. Comparison of massive and branching
colonies inside the lagoon and on the outer reef slope. (a) Percent cover of
live stony corals prior to the bleaching episode, from analysis
of live coral colonies and recently-bleached coral skeletons that appeared to
have died within the year preceding. (b) Percent cover of live stony corals
after the bleaching episode. (c) Mortality rates following the bleaching
episode. “Lagoon top” refers to corals on the top of shallow reef patches
inside the lagoon, and “lagoon side” refers to corals on the vertical sides of
reef patches in the lagoon. Data were collected during November 1998, from 1-m2 digitized video quadrates ( 12–39) at each location.
