New publication from Mahahual

We are very happy to announce that the paper "Preliminary survey of fish community composition in seagrass habitat in two back-reef lagoons of the Southern Mexican Caribbean", written by Lauren Yeager and Ernesto Arias-Gonzalez was recently published.
GVI Mahahual supported this research and housed Lauren at the end of 2006 at our old base, Estacion Costa Maya. Some of our EMs also had the chance to help Lauren collect data from the Mahahual lagoon.

Here's the abstract:
Little is known about seagrass fish communities in the southern Mexican Caribbean. Diurnal and nocturnal fish community structure in seagrass habitat were compared between back-reef lagoons using a visual census technique in a natural protected area within a national park (Xcalak) and an unprotected area (Mahahual). Seagrass fish communities differed significantly between the two locations in the daytime and Xcalak supported greater total fish densities. Species richness did not differ statistically between locations. Observed nighttime fish communities were characterized by low species richness and low fish abundance when compared to diurnal communities. Heavy tourist use and coastal development may have degraded seagrass habitat at Mahahual causing lower fish abundance. Also, proximity of seagrass to mangrove habitat in Xcalak may have led to increased abundance and differences in species composition between locations.
More extensive analysis and monitoring of the relative functioning of back-reef habitats in these two systems is needed as coastal development and fishing pressure continue to threaten the area.

For the full article, please see bellow:

Read this doc on Scribd: Yeager and Arias-Gonzalez 2008

New publication from Mahahual