Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Caribbean coral reefs extend across the Tropical Western Atlantic, with the western most coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, eastern most coral reefs in Barbados, northern most reefs in Bermuda, and most southern reefs from the coasts of Panama and Colombia, with reef area estimated to be 13,554km 2 .These coral reefs span cross ten marine across the Wider Caribbean as defined by the Marine Ecoregions of the World framework.The region hosts two species of Critically Endangered Acropora that historically built shallow-water reef environments, and large bouldering Orbicella spp. that dominate typical fore-reef spurand-groove coral reef habitat.These ecosystems face increasing pressure from climate change induced marine heatwaves that cause mass coral bleaching and extensive mortality, along with disease outbreaks, overharvesting of functional species, Ecosystems.IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.EcoEvoRxiv.
DOI: 10.32942/x2f98s
Authors: Jack Johnson, Franz Smith, Melanie McField, Jahson Alemu I, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, Ruleo Camacho, Luis Chasqui, James Crabbe, Aldo Croquer, Craig Dahlgren, Haley Davis, Matthew Doherty, Brett Jameson, Patricia Kramer, Judith Lang, Rosa Rodríguez-Martínez, Angela Randazzo, Lynnette Roth, Krista Sherman, Anastazia Banaszak, Maria Fernanda Villalpando, Mishal Gudka
Institutions: University of Trinidad and Tobago, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of the West Indies, José Benito Vives de Andréis Marine and Coastal Research Institute, University of Bedfordshire, University of Oxford, Perry Institute for Marine Science, Australian Institute of Marine Science, James Cook University, University of Plymouth, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223173451