Long term benthic survey demonstrates a shift in the composition of benthic reef communities at shallow sites in Roatán, Honduras

Coral reefs ecosystems are facing an unprecedented decline due to the action of natural and anthropogenic stressors. The Caribbean Sea is considered to be one of the most impacted areas, as the average estimated scleractinian coral cover in this region decreased from approximately 50% to 10% over the last 30 years. In this study, a ten-year biodiversity survey was used to examine changes in abundance and percentage cover of benthic invertebrates on permanent transects located at four shallow coral reefs around Roatán, Honduras. This study represents the first long-term investigation of the coral ecosystem of Roatán and reports a decrease in scleractinian coral cover from 37.45 [± 5.37]% to 28.95 [± 3.62]% and a concomitant increase in macroalgal (7.02 [± 3.59]% to 13.94 [± 2.69]%) and turf (5.11[ ± 0.84]% to 7.23 [± 1.00]%) cover although no significant differences in the abundance of scleractinian corals, soft corals, or sponges were observed on the transects. While the four reef sites supported more variable benthic communities at the onset of the study, an overall homogenization of the benthic community composition occurred during the study period. Although our study sites were limited to a small region of Roatán’s southern coral reef system, these observations add to results from other Caribbean locations and provide insights into how Mesoamerican coral reefs have changed over the last decade.