Scleractinian Coral Fauna of Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published by Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node on Mar 6, 2024 Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node
Publication date:
March 6, 2024
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 53 records in English (8 KB) - Update frequency: not planned
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Metadata as an RTF file download in English (13 KB)

Description

Three surveys at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) spanning the period 1999–2005, and examination of private and museum collections, have revealed a depauperate zooxanthellate scleractinian fauna. Collections were all made off island shelf exposures, from tide pools to 70 m with scuba, and by dredging to 100 m. With synonymies, reassignments, and two new records in the families Pocilloporidae and Faviidae, the Easter Island coral fauna now comprises 13 species. Pocilloporid and poritid coral abundances were generally high on all island shelves protected from southern swells. A cluster analysis of the coral fauna relationships of 19 south, central, and far-eastern Pacific sites indicates a strong affinity between those of Easter Island and the far-eastern Pacific equatorial region (e.g., Colombia, Ecuador, Panama´, and the Galapagos Islands). The precipitous drop in coral species richness from the Pitcairn Island group (61 species) to Easter Island suggests the presence of a dispersal barrier between these two remote southeastern Pacific areas, separated by @ 1,800 km of deep ocean waters. Consideration of the surface circulation based on satellite-tracked surface drifters confirms this conclusion. Surface currents are from east to west along the topography on which Easter and Sala-y-Gomez Islands sit, suggesting a substantial barrier to recruitment from the west.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 53 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Glynn P W, Wellington G M, Riegel B, Olson D B, Borneman E, Wieters E A (2024). Scleractinian Coral Fauna of Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Version 1.1. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Occurrence dataset. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=scleractinian_rapa_nui&v=1.1

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 3e0c680c-c8a2-4478-ba17-895f22c01e8b.  Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Peter W. Glynn
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Researcher
Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
  • 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
33149-1098 Miami
Florida
US
Gerard M. Wellington
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston
77204-5513 Houston
Texas
US
Bernhard Riegel
  • Originator
  • Researcher
National Coral Reef Institute, Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeast University
  • 8000 North Ocean Drive
33004 Dania
Florida
US
Donald B. Olson
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Division of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
  • 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
33149-1098 Miami
Florida
US
Eric Borneman
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Division of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
  • 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
33149-1098 Miami
Florida
US
Evie A. Wieters
  • Originator
  • Researcher
Departamento de Ecologıa, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Santiago
CL
Kevin Mackay
  • User

Geographic Coverage

Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Bounding Coordinates South West [-27.21, -109.46], North East [-27.06, -109.29]

Taxonomic Coverage

Scleractinian coral

Order Scleractinia

Sampling Methods

The focus of this study is Easter Island (Rapa Nui), centered at 109° 22' W, 27° 07' S. This is one of the most isolated localities in the tropical/subtropical oceans. Coral collection sites were concentrated along the western and northern shores, with some collections also carried out at two offshore islets to the south of the island and at Punta Redonda on the southeastern coast.

Study Extent Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Method step description:

  1. Most collections were made with scuba to 70m depth on surveys conducted during 14–19 March 1999, 18–22 March 2000, and 12–20 March 2005. Most specimens were deposited in the Marine Invertebrate Museum of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami (UMML)
  2. Material was also examined from drag hauls at 100 m, and in the collections of the Museo de Zoologıa, Departamento de Zoologıa, Universidad de Concepcion (UCMZ).

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Glynn, P.W., Wellington, G.M., Riegl, B., Olson, D.B., Borneman, E., and Wieters, E.A. 2007. Diversity and Biogeography of the Scleractinian Coral Fauna of Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Pacific Science (2007), vol. 61, no. 1:67–90.

Additional Metadata

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Alternative Identifiers https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=scleractinian_rapa_nui