title: Status of Caribbean coral reefs in seven countries in 1986.
abstract: There are few long-term datasets available to make reliable statements about trends in cover and structure in many coral reefs around the world. We present 27year old summary data of the cover of corals and other biota on Caribbean and Western Atlantic coral reefs in 7 countries collected in late 1985 and early 1986. These data were collected to support research on sponge populations and show relatively low coral cover on many of these reefs with particularly low cover of Acropora spp. We present these summaries to encourage other researchers to compare with current conditions or repeat the surveys to show long-term trends; the raw data will be supplied on request.
authors.affiliation: Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, PO Box 772, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. clive.wilkinson@rrrc.org.au
authors.forename: Clive
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.forename: Madeleine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Valonna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development; D058448:Biota; D017691:Caribbean Region; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data