"This project examines an spanned the 1982-83 and 1997-98 El Nino (ENSO) disturbances, anomalous warming events that selectively killed reef-building corals. While no fish mortalities were observed at the time of the 1982-83 El Nino event, live coral cover was reduced to near 0% at Uva reef. From 1984 to 1990, live coral (Pocillopora spp.) cover was extremely low (< 5%), but demonstrated steady recovery to ~ 70% by 2006. By quantifying disturbance-related, long- term changes in coral reef resources and 2 relating these to fish trophic group responses, several functional relationships became apparent. Over the entire study period, a total of 63 fish taxa were observed and reef fish density (all taxa combined) remained relatively stable"--Abstract.

Professional Paper