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Investigaciones marinas en la Isla del Coco, Costa Rica / Marine Research at Isla del Coco (Cocos Island), Costa Rica / Recherches marines à l’Ile du Coco, Costa Rica.
Abstract
Collection of papers on Isla del Coco National Park, Costa Rica
... El área marina protegida es de casi 2 000km 2 (Alvarado, Cortés, Esquivel, & Salas, 2012). Una amplia descripción de las condiciones oceanográficas y biológicas pueden ser encontradas en Cortés (2008b; 2012). ...
Coral reefs of Isla del Coco National Park, Costa Rica: structure and comparison (1987-2014). Isla del Coco has one of the most diverse and well conserved coral reefs in Costa Rica. These reefs have been extensively studied since the 1980’s, however those studies focused mainly on coral coverage. The aim of this study is to evaluate the coral reefs of the island, not only by the coverage of the substrate but also the composition of fish, invertebrates and reef complexity. A total of 17 sites around the island were sampled in July 2013 and in February-March 2014. At each site, we evaluated three depths (4-8m, 9-12m and 13-16m), where three 10m long transects were sampled. Turf algae was the predominant substrate cover with 38.18±5.58 %. The crustose calcareous algae (Order Corallinales) had a 28.12±5.85 % cover and live coral was 18.64±3.55 %, with Porites lobata as the main reef builder. A total of 18 taxa of macroinvertebrates were observed in the study sites, of which 56 % of the species were not abundant, 33 % were common, and the sea urchin Diadema mexicanum was the only dominant species. The density of lobsters of the genus Panulirus was 388±385ind ha-1, which is the highest density reported in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Also we observed high densities of the sea cucumber Isostichopus fuscus (550ind ha-1), which has a high commercial value. We recorded 45 338 fish individuals, distributed in 93 species, with an average of 1.2±8.5tn ha-1. From the total of species, 51 % were uncommon, 31 % common, 11 % predominant and 8 % occasional. The fish community at Isla del Coco is represented by a large number of carnivorous species, followed by top predators, herbivores and planktivorous species. According to the fish categories of the IUCN Red List, 16 % of species are in threatened categories and represent 25 % of the total sampled biomass. When comparing with studies carried out from 1987 to the present, the recovery in coral cover over time is evident, mainly due to: 1) a decrease in the pressure of the bioerosive action of D. mexicanum; and 2) the conservation actions that have been taken on the island. This has been translated in complex and more rugose reefs. Isla del Coco reefs are healthy, with functional and complex food webs; where species of high commercial value have large populations. The effectiveness of conservation and management activities in Isla del Coco has resulted in the recovery of the reef communities.
... Local meteorological measurements are also important in multidisciplinary research to properly understand the Isla del Coco oceanographic systems (Cortés, 2008;2012c), as part of the broader ETPS (Henderson, Rodríguez, & McManus, 2008). In general terms, the meteorological observations collected during the expeditions to Isla del Coco showed that positive (negative) P anomalies tended to be associated with positive (negative) AST and SST anomalies and negative (positive) GR anomalies. ...
... Sobre la Isla del Coco se han publicado muchos trabajos desde hace varios siglos (Montoya 2007, ver referencias de libros históricos al final) y desde finales del Siglo xIx ha habido una gran cantidad de expediciones e investigaciones en el área marina de la Isla (Cortés 2008). Mucha de esta literatura es de difícil acceso y en algunos casos hasta desconocida por muchos científicos. ...
Isla del Coco (also known as Cocos Island), Pacific Costa Rica, has been visited and written about since the 16th Century, and since the late 1800's many expeditions and scientists have carried out research in the Island. Here I compiled publications on marine biological, geological, oceanographic and atmospheric research done at Isla del Coco. A list of 599 scientific papers and chapters were compiled, together with 41 books, reports, Special Issues, theses and web sites, and ten historic books with descriptions of marine animals or environemnets. A mayority of the publications (425 or 66.4%) are related to marine biodiversity topics (species descriptions and lists of species); the most published groups are gastropods (81 papers), decapods (67) and bony fishes (66). There are no publications of several groups of animals that have been observed in the Island, for example free-living flat worms, parasites and nemerteans among others. Other topics with a large number of publications are, biogeography with 65, ecology (61) and geology (48); the most studied ecosystem are coral reefs with 14 papers. More publications are needed on many topics, such as impact of ilegal fishing and climate change on Isla del Coco National Park marine flora and fauna.
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