Management Plan - Glover's Reef Marine Reserve

Peripheral Reefs
Glovers Reef Marine Reserve – Management Plan
Table 13: Ecosystems of Glover’s Reef (continued)
Marine Ecosystems
Reef channels Three reef channels occur on the windward side of the Atoll, connecting
the lagoon waters directly with the open ocean. These are the North East
Channel (1,400 yds wide), the Southwest Channel (approximately 1 mile
wide) and the channel between Long Caye and Northeast Caye (about ¼
mile wide).
Terrestrial
Mangrove Rhizophora mangle extends out from the shoreline of Middle Caye and
Southwest Cayes, and Avicennia germinans is found on the western
portion of Northeast Caye.
Rubble beach
Located primarily on the windward side of the cayes, with coral rubble
deposits forming ridge or rampart of broken coral , which may be as much
as 5ft high.
Sandy beach
These gently sloping, coral/algal fine sand beaches are located on the
leeward side of the cayes.
Caye littoral forest Characterized by species such as sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), ziricote
(Cordia sebestena) and gumbolimbo (Bursera simaruba), this forest type
is found on the southeast side of Northeast Caye, with a small stand also
being located on Middle Caye, interspersed with grassland, This
ecosystem, whilst not occurring within the Marine Reserve itself, is
highlighted as under-represented within the National Protected Areas
System, and at reat threat from coastal development.
Brackish pond
Middle Caye, Northeast Caye and Southwest I Caye have small
depressions in the central portion of the caye that fill with brackish water
during the rainy season.
Palm
The littoral forest on the majority of the cayes has already been cleared,
and the area planted with coconuts (originally the Panamanian tall variety,
but with the onset of ‘lethal yellow’, many landowners have replanted with
the more resistant Maypan variety – a hybrid between the Malaysian dwarf
and the Panamanian tall coconut varieties. In some places, such as
Northeast Caye, these form dense thickets.
Stoddart (1962) classified the peripheral reefs of Glover’s Reef into four main groups:
1) The northern reef, with a reef flat about 500 m wide
2) The eastern reef, stretching from Northern Entrance to Northeast Caye, with a very
wide reef flat of about 500 –1400 m
3) The southeast reef, from Long Caye to the Southwest Cayes with a narrower reef flat
with a width of about 200 – 500 m
4) The leeward reef, with a reef flat 400 – 500 m wide in the north, increasing to 700m in
the south.
In general, a gradually sloping fore-reef extends to the drop-off, ranging from approximately
400m to 1.5 km wide, that runs perpendicular on the north and east windward sides of the Atoll,
with a very well-developed spur and groove system. The edge of the drop-off lies at a depth of
between 15-25 m, and is vertical in most areas, though a series of ledges or terraces occur at
different depths below the drop-off.
The windward reef is characterized by first a Porites zone, followed by an Annularis zone, a
Porites-Lithothamnion zone, then the reef crest of dead reef-rock encrusted with A. agaricites,
P. porites, Millepora, and finally a well-defined spur-and-groove zone primarily of massive A.
palmata colonies on the outer slope. In contrast, the leeward reef is comprised of a mixed
Cervicornis zone, a mixed Palmata zone, followed by an Annularis zone to depths of 5 m that
continues down to 10 m with taller and massive colonies in deeper water, and then long
buttresses of M. annularis and pillars of D. cylindrus (Stoddart 1962).
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