Caroline Rogers, Ph.D. (Former Employee)

The large number of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Caribbean (over 100) gives a misleading impression of the amount of protection the reefs and other marine resources in this region are receiving. This review synthesizes information on marine resources in two of the first MPAs established in the USA, namely Virgin Islands National Park (1962) and Buck Island Reef National Monument...

The linear chain transect method and videography were used to quantify the percent cover by corals, macroalgae, gorgonians, other living organisms, and substrate along permanent transects on two fringing reefs off St. John. Both methods were used simultaneously on Lameshur reef in November 1998, and on Newfound reef in March and October 1998. Hurricane Georges passed over St. John in...

No abstract available.

The coexistence of hurricanes, coral reefs, and rainforests in the Caribbean demonstrates that highly structured ecosystems with great diversity can flourish in spite of recurring exposure to intense destructive energy. Coral reefs develop in response to wave energy and resist hurricanes largely by virtue of their structural strength. Limited fetch also protects some reefs from fully...

Coral reef community structure has remained remarkably stable over a 10 yr period within a small protected marine area despite repeated hurricane impacts. Local community dynamics have been highly variable, however. Sites that were destroyed by disease in the 1970s are showing little or no recovery, while sites less than a kilometre away that were devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 are

White band disease (WBD) ravaged Acropora palmata (elkhorn coral) on many coral reefs in the Caribbean in the late 1970’s and 1980’s, including those around St. John and St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands—USVI (Gladfelter 1982, Rogers 1985). Quantitative data, photographs, and anecdotal observations indicate WBD killed large stands of elkhorn coral in the USVI from about 1976 until sometime...

No abstract available.

A combination of visual census and trap sampling in St. John, USVI indicated that traps performed better in gorgonian habitat than in adjacent coral reef habitat. Although most families were seen more commonly in coral habitat, they were caught more often in gorgonian areas. Traps probably fished more effectively in gorgonian habitats, especially for migrating species, because traps...

Fishing with a variety of methods and gears, including traps, is allowed within the waters of Virgin Islands National Park (St. 10hn, U.S. Virgin Islands). Randall's 1 9 6 1 observation of the effects of overushing in nearshore waters off Sto John has been followed by three and a half decades of reports documenting the declining reef fish catch in the Virgin Islands and much of the...

No abstract available.

The U .S . National Park Service NPS began a Regional Assessment Program for coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida in 1988. Scientists from NPS and six other institutions have now established longterm monitoring sites at Virgin Islands National Park St. John, USVI, Buck Island Reef National Monument St. Croix, USVI, Biscayne National Park Florida and Fort Jefferson National...

Abstract not supplied at this time