Population fluctuations of the fungiid coral Cycloseris curvata, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

Fungiid corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia) occur at isolated locations scattered throughout the eastern tropical Pacific. They can be reef-associated but are often found on sand and rubble substrata distant from reef coral habitat. Cycloseris curvata is known in this region from the southern Gulf of California, through Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panamá, and with the southern-most populations occurring in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

Some environmental and biological determinants of coral richness, resilience and reef building in Galápagos (Ecuador).

Throughout the Galápagos, differences in coral reef development and coral population dynamics were evaluated by monitoring populations from 2000-2019, and environmental parameters (sea temperatures, pH, NO, PO) from 2015-19. The chief goal was to explain apparent coral community differences between the northern (Darwin and Wolf) and southern (Sta. Cruz, Fernandina, San Cristóbal, Española, Isabela) islands.

State of corals and coral reefs of the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador): Past, present and future.

Coral populations and structural coral reefs have undergone severe reductions and losses respectively over large parts of the Galápagos Islands during and following the 1982-83 El Niño event. Coral tissue loss amounted to 95% across the Archipelago. Also at that time, all coral reefs in the central and southern islands disappeared following severe degradation and eventual collapse due primarily to intense bioerosion and low recruitment.