Keywords
Isla del Coco
Costa Rica
maps
sand bottom
carbonates
reefs
shallow water systems
substrate
costal management
sediments
SIG
Isla del Coco
Costa Rica
mapas
fondo de arena
carbonatos
arrecifes
sistemas de aguas poco profundas
sustrato
manejo costero
sedimentos
How to Cite
Abstract
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications used in marine habitats are powerful tools for management and monitoring of marine reserves and resources. Here, we present a series of maps of the soft and hard substrates in the shallow waters (>80 m depth) of Parque Nacional Isla del Coco (PNIC= Isla del Coco National Park). We use bathymetry data and field data as input for a GIS, GAM, and kriging methods to generate a series of maps that describe the bottom characteristics. Eight types of bottom were found in the PNIC by composition and grain size. The shore of the island and islets consisted of rocky formations (mainly basalts), with coral reefs in the subtidal of some areas. Rhodolith beds had a dispersing distribution. The bottom on the southern and southwestern region is hard substrate, while sediments cover the northern and northeastern zones. Slightly gravelly sand dominated the bays, while gravelly sand (with more coarse grains) was frequent offshore. The inner areas of Chatham and Wafer bays have mud and organic matter. The sediments in the area are mostly carbonates, except in Bahía Yglesias where clastic sediments (from the erosion of basalts) are presented. The information generated in this study could be a valuable input for future monitoring in the PNIC. Citation: Sibaja-Cordero, J.A., J.S. Troncoso, C. Benavides-Varela & J. Cortés. 2012. Shallow water soft and hard bottoms of Isla del Coco National Park, Pacific Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 60 (Suppl. 3): 53-66. Epub 2012 Dec 01.References
Alfaro, E.J. 2008. Ciclo diario y anual de variables troposféricas y oceánicas en la Isla del Coco. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (Suppl. 2): 19-29.
Alvarado, J.J. & A. Chiriboga. 2008. Distribución y abundancia de equinodermos de las aguas someras en la Isla del Coco, Pacifico oriental, Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (Suppl. 2): 99-111.
Alvarado-Induni, G.E. 2000. Volcanes de Costa Rica: Geología, historia y riqueza natural. EUNED, San José, Costa Rica.
Beaman, R. 2005. A GIS Study of Australia’s Marine Benthic Habitats. PhD thesis, University of Tasmania.
Blott, S.J. & K. Pye. 2001. GRADISTAT, A grain size distribution and statistics package for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments. Earth Surf. Proc. Land. 26: 1237–1248.
Castillo, P., R. Batiza, D. Vanko, R.E. Malavassi, J. Barquero & E. Fernández. 1988. Anomalously young and old hot-spot traces: I. Geology and petrology of Cocos Island. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 100: 1400-1414.
Cortés, J. & S. Blum. 2008. Life to 450 m depth at Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (Suppl. 2): 189-206.
Crawley, M.J. 2007. The R Book. John Wiley, New York. Eleftheriou, A. & A. McIntyre. 2005. Methods for the Study of Marine Benthos. Blackwell, oxford. ESRI. 2010. ArcGIS10 Software. Enviromental System Research Institute, Redlands, California, USA.
Fernández, C. 2008. Flora marina del Parque Nacional Isla del Coco, Costa Rica, Pacífico Tropical oriental. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (Suppl. 2): 57-69.
Fonseca, A.C. 2006. Anexo 1, Atlas marino costero de Costa Rica: 209-219. In: V. Nielsen-Muñoz & M.A. Quesada-Alpízar (Eds.). Ambientes Marino Costeros de Costa Rica. Comisión Interdisciplinaria Marino Costera de la Zona Económica Exclusiva de Costa Rica, Informe Técnico. CIMAR, CI, TNC, San José, Costa Rica.
Fonseca, A.C. & J. Cortés. 1998. Coral borers of the eastern Pacific: Aspidosiphon A. elegans (Sipuncula: Aspidosiphonidae) and Pomatogebia rugosa (Crustacea: Upogebiidae). Pac. Sci. 52: 170-175.
Fonseca, A.C., H.M. Guzmán, J. Cortés & C. Soto. 2010. Marine habitats map of “Isla del Caño”, Costa Rica, comparing Quickbird and Hymap images classification results. Rev. Biol. Trop. 58: 373-381.
Garrison, G. 2005. Peces de la Isla del Coco/Isla del Coco Fishes, 2nd ed. Edit. INBio, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Guzmán, H.M. & J. Cortés. 1989. Coral reef community structure at Caño Island, Pacific Costa Rica. P.S.Z.N.I: Mar. Ecol. 10: 23-41.
Guzmán, H.M. & J. Cortés. 1992. Cocos Island (Pacific of Costa Rica) coral reefs after the 1982-83 El Niño disturbance. Rev. Biol. Trop. 40: 309-324.
Guzman, H.M. & J. Cortés. 2007. Reef recovery 20-yr after the 1982-83 El Niño massive mortality. Mar. Biol. 151: 401-411.
Guzman, H.M., S. Benfield, o. Breedy & J.M. Mair. 2008. Broadening reef protection across the Marine Conservation Corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific: distribution and diversity of reefs in Las Perlas Archipelago, Panama. Environ. Conser. 35: 46-54.
Hammer, Ø., D.A.T. Harper & P.D. Ryan 2001. PAST, Paleontological Statistics Software Package for Education and Data Analysis. Palaeontol. Electr. 4: 1-9.
Hinojosa-Arango, G, C.A. Maggs & M.P. Johnson. 2009. Like a rolling stone: the mobility of maerl (Corallinaceae) and the neutrality of the associated assemblages. Ecology 90: 517-528.
IGNCR. 2002. Cocos Island Layers. Universal Transverse Mercator Projection (UTM), Zone 16N, NAD83 datum. Scale 1:25 000. Instituto Geográfico Nacional de Costa Rica, Ministerio de obras Públicas y Transportes. San José, Costa Rica.
ITCR. 2008. Cocos Island Layers, Costa Rican Digital Atlas. Costa Rica Transverse Mercator Projection (CRTM05), datum WGS84. Scale 1:25 000. 3ª ed. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Cartago, Costa Rica.
Levinson, S.C. 2008. Landscape, seascape and the ontology of places on Rossel Island, Papua New Guinea. Language Scien. 30: 256-290.
Lizano, o.G. 2001a. Batimetría de la plataforma insular alrededor de la Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 49 (Suppl. 2): 163-170.
Lizano, o.G. 2001b. Cocos Island bathymetric data. Geographical Coordinates. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Universidad de Costa Rica. San José, Costa Rica.
Lizano, o.G. 2008. Dinámica de aguas alrededor de la Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (Suppl. 2): 31-48.
Mair, J.M., S.L. Cunningham, J.A. Sibaja-Cordero, H.M. Guzman, M.F. Arroyo, D. Merino & R. Vargas. 2009. Mapping benthic faunal communities in the shallow and deep sediments of Las Perlas Archipelago, Pacific Panama. Mar. Poll. Bull. 58: 375-383.
Ryan, J., G. Estefan & A. Rashid. 2001. Soil and Plant Analysis Laboratory Manual. 2nd ed. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)-National Agricultural Research Center (NARC). Aleppo, Syria.
Sibaja-Cordero, J.A. 2008. Vertical zonation in the rocky intertidal at Cocos Island (Isla del Coco), Costa Rica: A comparation with other tropical locations. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (Suppl. 2): 171-187.
Sibaja-Cordero, J.A. & J. Cortés. 2010. Comparación temporal de la composición y zonación de organismos en el intermareal rocoso del Parque Nacional Isla del Coco, Pacífico de Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 58: 1387-1403.
SINAC. 1999. Cocos Island Marine Conservation Area. Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía. San José, Costa Rica.
TNC. 2008. Bathymetric and benthic models. Assessment of Marine Ecoregions in Mesoamerica. Universal Transverse Mercator Proyection (UTM) Zone 16N, NAD27 datum. The Nature Conservancy, San José, Costa Rica.
Weston, J.C. 1992. La Isla del Coco / Cocos Island. Trejos Hermanos Sucesores, S.A., San José, Costa Rica.
Wood, S. 2006. Generalized Additive Models: An Introduction with R. Chapman and Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, Florida.