The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Flower Garden Banks, Stetson Bank, and Other Banks in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico
نویسندگان
چکیده
INTRODUCTION AND SETTING The East and West Flower Garden Banks (EFGB and WFGB) were designated as the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in January 1992. The two banks are prominent geological features located near the outer edge of the continental shelf in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, approximately 192 km southeast of Galveston, Texas (Figure 7.1). These features, created by the uplift of underlying salt domes of Jurassic origin, rise from surrounding water depths of over 100 m to within 17 m of the surface. The northernmost thriving coral reef communities in North America cap the shallow portions of the EFGB and WFGB. They are relatively isolated from other coral reefs of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, located over 690 km from the nearest reefs of the Campeche Bank off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, and over 1,200 km from the coral reefs of the Florida Keys. The area of the EFGB (27°54.5’ N, 93°36.0’ W) comprises about 65.8 km2 of which about 1.02 km2 is coral reef. Located 19.3 km to the west, the WFGB (27°52.5’ N, 93°49.0’ W) comprises about 77.2 km2 of which about 0.4 km2 is coral reef (Gardner et al., 1998).
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Long-Term Persistence of Coral Assemblages on the Flower Garden Banks, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico: Implications for Science and Management
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