Coral communities on artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico: standing vs. toppled oil platforms
Coral communities on artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico: standing vs. toppled oil platforms
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墨西哥湾人工礁石上的珊瑚群落：站立的石油平台与倒塌的石油平台
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发表时间：
2014
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通讯作者：
J. Sinclair
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作者：
P. Sammarco;A. Lirette;Y. Tung;G. Boland;M. Genazzio;J. Sinclair
墨西哥湾北部的数千个石油平台为加勒比珊瑚的定居提供了坚硬的基质，并促进了它们的范围扩大。美国内政部海洋能源管理局现在允许故意将平台倾倒到底并用作人工鱼礁，以促进渔业发展。我们通过远程操作车辆侦察（最大深度 110 m）将常设海上石油/天然气生产平台上的珊瑚群落与“钻机到珊瑚礁”结构上的珊瑚群落进行比较，以评估几种珊瑚物种的种群规模比较。发现的珊瑚有虫黄藻 Madracis decactis 和虫黄藻 Tubastraea coccinea、Oculina diffusa 和 Phyllangia americana。由于物种特定的丰度不同，直立平台和倒塌平台之间的总珊瑚密度没有显着差异。倒塌结构上的 Madracis decactis 和 T. coccinea 密度显着高于直立结构上的密度，直立平台上的 P. americana 更为丰富，而两组平台之间的 O. diffusa 密度没有显着差异。直立平台上的珊瑚分布比倒塌平台上的珊瑚分布更深（特别是白花蛇舌草和美洲珊瑚）。 Madracis decactis（需要光照）和 T. coccinea 集中在较浅的深度（≤50 m）。钻机到珊瑚礁的结构是珊瑚定居的基质。当考虑直立结构与倒塌结构时，珊瑚在演替早期阶段持续生长的可能性因物种而异。我们没有看到总体证据表明倒塌增加了造礁珊瑚种群、总体上增加了珊瑚丰度或创造了 3D 珊瑚礁状鱼类栖息地。
Thousands of oil platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico have provided hard substrate for settlement of Caribbean corals and have facilitated their range expansion. The US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management now allows platforms to be purposely toppled to the bottom and used as artificial reefs to promote fisheries development. We compared the coral communities on standing offshore oil/gas production platforms with those on “Rigs-to-Reef” structures through Remotely Operated Vehicle reconnaissance (max. depth � 110 m) to assess comparative population sizes of several coral species. Corals found were the zooxanthellate Madracis decactis and azooxanthellate Tubastraea coccinea, Oculina diffusa, and Phyllangia americana. There was no significant difference in total coral density between standing and toppled platforms, due to varying species-specific abundances. Madracis decactis and T. coccinea densities were significantly higher on toppled structures than on standing ones, P. americana was more abundant on standing platforms, and O. diffusa densities were not significantly different between the two sets of platforms. Corals were distributed more deeply on standing platforms than on toppled ones (particularly O. diffusa and P. americana). Madracis decactis (requiring light) and T. coccinea were concentrated at shallower depths (≤50 m). Rigs-to-Reefs structures serve as substrate for coral settlement. The probability of continued coral growth in these early stages of succession varies between species, when considering standing vs. toppled structures. We did not see overall evidence that toppling enhanced hermatypic coral populations, increased coral abundances in general, or created 3D reef-like fish habitat.