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Land-Use Change: 1997 Publications

Author: Nowlis, J.S., Roberts, C., Smith, A., and Siirila, E.
Title: Human-enhanced impacts of a tropical storm on nearshore coral reefs.
Publication: Ambio 26(8):515-521, 1997.
© Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Notes: Land development ranks among the most significant human threats to coral reefs, causing damage by promoting the erosion and transport of soil - called sediment once suspended in water. We studied the impacts of sediment on the coral communities of St. Lucia following a tropical storm. We found more sediment and coral damage on reefs closest to the mouths of large rivers. Coral mortality exceeded 50% at some sites, and the degree of coral mortality and bleaching depended on the amount of sediment at the site. Despite exemplary efforts by engineers to reduce erosion rates, we found more sediment at sites near a road under construction at the time of the storm. Collectively, our data demonstrated a major negative impact of land development on coral reefs, a problem likely to grow in scale given the growing demands for developed land and the recent frequency of large storms in the tropical Atlantic.