Bobbie Renfro-Price

• Doctor of Philosophy
• PhD Candidate at Florida State University

Sponges (Porifera) are integral members of coral reef communities and are experiencing long-term declines on Caribbean reefs under changing ocean conditions. This study combines observational and experimental data to: (1) document the assemblages of sponges on Caribbean coral reefs nearer to and further from anthropogenic influence, (2) annually qu...

Chronic anthropogenic disturbances on coral reefs in the form of overfishing and pollution can shift benthic community composition away from stony corals and toward macroalgae. The use of reefs for recreational snorkeling and diving potentially can lead to similar ecological impacts if not well-managed, but impacts of snorkeling on benthic organism...

Raw data on (a) visitation rates within examined sections of Akumal Bay, Mexico, (b) percent cover of benthic organisms, and (c) abundance of sea urchins on coral reefs surveyed in the bay. See map Fig 1 and text for details. (XLSX)

Ecosystem-based management efforts in coral reefs typically focus on reducing fishing pressure. However, independent of overfishing, tourism can degrade coral reefs through coastal development, as well as the physical presence of tourists within the ecosystem, the effects of which remain poorly understood. We combined a 3-year dataset on coral and...