Abstract

BASTIDA-ZAVALA, José Rolando; BELTRAN-TORRES, Aurora U.; GUTIERREZ-AGUIRRE, Martha Angélica  and  DE LA FUENTE-BETANCOURT, Gabriela. Evaluación rápida de los arrecifes parche de Majagual, Quintana Roo, México. Rev. biol. trop [online]. 2000, vol.48, n.1, pp.137-143. ISSN 0034-7744.

The Majagual patch reef was surveyed 13 days after the indirect effects of hurricane Mitch with 1 m² quadrants and rapid assesment techniques. In comparison with an earlier survey in the Xahuayxol reef, live coral cover was low (11.5% ± 5.2), whereas the cover of filamentous seaweed and old dead coral was high (53.7% ± 27.7 in bath of them). The coral community disturbance may have began several years ago, and low algal turf growth suggests indirect effects of hurricane Mitch, because the surge suspended sediments. Frequency of Favia fragum (Esper) and encrusting coralline algae encounters was higher than for other coral/alga pairs; this suggest a possible effect specificity.

Keywords : Benthos; hurricane Mitch; patch reefs; rapid assessment; tourism.