Increases in surgeonfish populations after mass mortality of the sea urchinDiadema antillarum in Panamá indicate food limitation

@article{Robertson1991IncreasesIS,
  title={Increases in surgeonfish populations after mass mortality of the sea urchinDiadema antillarum in Panam{\'a} indicate food limitation},
  author={D. Ross Robertson},
  journal={Marine Biology},
  year={1991},
  volume={111},
  pages={437-444}
}
In 1983/1984,Diadema antillarum suffered mass mortalities throughout its West Atlantic range. Its populations were reduced by 95% and subsequently have failed to recover. These die-offs led to sustained increases in the abundance of soft algae, including types eaten by herbivorous reef fishes. I monitored adult populations of three herbivorous surgeonfishes (Acanthurus coeruleus, A. chirurugus andA. bahianus) between 1978 and 1990, and the recruitment of their pelagic juveniles between 1979 and… 
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Diadema antillarum 10 years after mass mortality: still rare, despite help from a competitor
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  • Environmental Science
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
  • 1995
TLDR
The lack of recovery of D. antillarum despite its high fecundity, planktonic larvae and the assistance of E. viridis, demonstrates that unique disturbance events in the history of a species can have long-lasting effects on its abundance, independently of community-level processes.
The Great Diadema antillarum Die-Off: 30 Years Later.
  • H. Lessios
  • Environmental Science
    Annual review of marine science
  • 2016
TLDR
There has been moderate recovery since 1983, with the highest rates on islands of the eastern Caribbean, and recent changes in D. antillarum populations progress toward aiding the recovery of coral cover.
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Reciprocal densities of D. antillarum versus roaming grazers on survey transects and stationary point counts indicate that negative interaction between these two groups is present despite the reductions to their populations during the last 35 years.
Diadema antillarum populations in Panama twenty years following mass mortality
The ecology of Caribbean reefs experienced profound changes after 1983, when the black sea urchin, Diadema antillarum Philippi, a major herbivore and bioeroder (Ogden et al. 1973; Scoffin et al.…
Population characteristics of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in La Parguera, Puerto Rico, 17 years after the mass mortality event.
TLDR
Results of this study indicate that Diadema seem to be making a slow come back in La Parguera, Puerto Rico, although average densities were well below pre-mass-mortality densities in Puerto Rico.
Fish predators and scavengers of the sea urchinEchinometra mathaei in Kenyan coral-reef marine parks
  • T. McClanahan
  • Environmental Science
    Environmental Biology of Fishes
  • 2004
TLDR
It is suggested that B. undulatus is a ‘keystone predator’ and that fishery regulations that protect this species may be necessary in order to reduce the detrimental consequences of high sea urchin abundance — such as high reef substrate erosion and competitive exclusion of fishes.
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Dadema was abundant in the Caribbean long before humans could have affected ecological processes; the genetic data contain no evidence of a recent, anthropogenically caused, population increase.
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Resource use by five sympatric species of parrotfish was quantified in the San Blas Archipelago of the Republic of Panama from March to August 1987 and showed that they partition resources with respect to habitat, food and size, but not time.
Using an isolated population boom to explore barriers to recovery in the keystone Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum
TLDR
A lack of structural complexity on contemporary Caribbean reefs is highlighted as the most likely explanation for the limited recovery through a lack of provision of juvenile predation refugia, representing a further consequence of the recent ubiquitous phase shifts throughout the region.
Predation and the Control of the Sea Urchin Echinometra viridisand Fleshy Algae in the Patch Reefs of Glovers Reef, Belize
TLDR
The ecology of a grazer living sympatrically with D. antillarum, the common and abundant sea urchin Echinometra viridis, was examined and abundance was positively correlated with fleshy algal abundance, but negatively correlated with the frequency of finfish bites.
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References

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