Nicaraguan Caribbean reefs

Abstract

In the preceding issue of Wani, I briefly discussed three of the planet's most productive ecosystems seagrasses, mangroves and corals that abound on the extensive continental shelf of the Nicaraguan Caribbean. This article, the second in a series, brings together the scarce information available on coral reef ecosystems in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), the offshore ecological counterpart of Nicaragua's tropical rainforests. For more than 230 million years, corals and the spectacular creatures that inhabit them have evolved together in the world's tropical oceans.  The enormous diversity of plants and animals we see today in coral reefs (a single coral reef can support thousands of species of host flora and fauna) are the result of millions of years of biological change and adaptation by the powerful forces of nature. Survivors are adapted to live within the narrow range of tolerance set by the physical (e.g., tides, currents, water transparency) and chemical (salinity, nutrients) parameters that characterize the areas in which the reefs grow.  Time has also produced intricate ecological and behavioral relationships found in few other places on the planet.