High Abundance and Low Diversity in Conus Populations on the Intertidal Benches of Palmyra Atoll

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: High population densities (1.07 – 5.6 specimens/m2, average density of 3.12 specimens/m2) and low diversity levels (H = 0.67, H’ = 0.71) characterize Conus populations on intertidal, reef-associated environments on the North Beach of Palmyra Atoll. The five species of Conus found on the North Beach showed strong microhabitat preferences. 74.9% of C. sponsalis were found buried within or resting on thick algal mats, 42.9% of C. ebraeus were found on rock, and the C. lividus found were evenly divided between coral rubble and rock substrates. If used as a proxy for overall community diversity, these results indicate that intertidal areas on Palmyra have community compositions similar to other shallow benches throughout the Indo-Pacific Region. Although Conus populations on Palmyra follow trends for the rest of the Indo-Pacific well, the North Beach habitat has a large amount of a unique, surprisingly thick algal mat (approx. 6cm) as well as containing a large amount of very fine coral sediment. These characteristics are possible artifacts of military occupation in the 1940s and 1950s. The ecological structure of Palmyra’s intertidal areas may serve as a pristine baseline for gauging reef health in other areas in the future, or it may become an interesting study of the long-term effects of human exploitation and misuse.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 9, 2003

Author	McLendon, Helen

Subject	Stanford@SEA
Subject	S-187
Subject	Hopkins Marine Station
Subject	Department of Biology
Subject	Department of Earth System Science
Subject	BIOHOPK 182H
Subject	BIOHOPK 323H
Subject	EARTHSYS 323
Subject	ESS 323
Subject	Palmyra Attol
Subject	conus
Subject	intertidal benches
Subject	diversity
Subject	abundance
Genre	Student project report

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/vd066ct9425

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).

Preferred Citation: Helen McLendon, 2003. High Abundance and Low Diversity in Conus Populations on the Intertidal Benches of Palmyra Atoll. Unpublished student research paper, S-187, Stanford@SEA, Stanford Digital Repository. https://purl.stanford.edu/vd066ct9425.

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