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Long-term monitoring of Bermuda's coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove forests.
The long-term monitoring program of seagrass beds, coral reefs and mangroves in Bermuda concluded its sixth year of data collection 1998. This work is done in parallel with 20 other sites in the Caribbean and results in a regional database of physical and biological variables in these key coastal ecosystems. The most surprising result is that the majority of the reefs monitored by CARICOMP scientists are dominated by algae and, in many locations, coral coverage has declined.
Another result of the comparison of Bermuda to the Caribbean sites is that the productivity and growth patterns of both our seagrass and mangroves are very similar to those in the Caribbean. This is quite interesting considering the great temperature range and reduced day lengths in winter at our high latitude.
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