Distribution of macroalgae in the Banco Chinchorro reef Lagoon: coral reef of the Mexican Caribbean

Abstract

The soft bottom macroalgae of the lagoon reef in the Biosphere Reservation of the Chinchorro Bank in june of 2009, 2010 and 2011
were analyzed. The research aim was to determine the algae structure and know their interannual changes in the same period. We
registered 21 species Chondrophycus papillosus was the dominantest species, the intervals of diversity are from 2.8 to 9.9 beles/
ind, for sandy bottoms, the more diverse area was in the half part of the lagoon. The sites similarity was obtained with the Morisita’s
Index, data set present diverse and heterogeneous groups that characterized specific areas inside the reef lagoon, mainly the near ones
to the windward reef. The canonical analysis shows the sampling sites and species space position and their environmental factors
dependence: temperature and depth; the salinity and dissolved oxygen have not influence on algae. A high bigger correlation is
presented at 0.9 between the environmental parameters and the first two main components of the system.