. Bulletins of American paleontology. 8 24 40 56 72 68 104 120 136 152 168 Number of specimens per species. •- <D ^ cow Z (0 Number of localities per species Text-figure 6.—Histograms and scatterplot showing the numbers of localities and specimens collected per species. branching colonies indicate intermediate depths with moderate wave action on exposed forereefs. Exclu- sively branching species indicate muddy conditions with reduced wave action. Abundant free-living colo- nies indicate unstable substrates, often associated with seagrass flats. Following Done (1983) and Geister (1983), high
. Bulletins of American paleontology. 8 24 40 56 72 68 104 120 136 152 168 Number of specimens per species. •- <D ^ cow Z (0 Number of localities per species Text-figure 6.—Histograms and scatterplot showing the numbers of localities and specimens collected per species. branching colonies indicate intermediate depths with moderate wave action on exposed forereefs. Exclu- sively branching species indicate muddy conditions with reduced wave action. Abundant free-living colo- nies indicate unstable substrates, often associated with seagrass flats. Following Done (1983) and Geister (1983), high diversities can be interpreted to indicate moderately exposed forereef environments at shallow to intermediate depths (5-20 m) on open marine lee- ward platforms; whereas low diversities indicate pro- tected environments, such as shallow (<5 m) platform or deepest (40-100 m) shelf areas, or highly exposed (<5 m) windward reefs. Recent species with narrow depth ranges (Goreau and Wells, 1967) that were identified in our collections include three shallow (20 m) forereef species (Agaricia lamarcki. Miissa angitlosa, Stephanocoenia intersepta, Madracis decactis). Of these, Diploria stri- gosa may also occur at intermediate (10—20 m) depths, and the four deeper forereef species may also occur at shallower depths under turbid conditions. Therefore, the presences of indicator species should be interpreted with caution. Of the shallow reef crest indicators, Ac- ropora palmata is perhaps the most definitive (see McNeill et al, 1997). To evaluate colony shapes of the collected corals, each species identified in the collections was assigned to one of four colony shape categories (Table 3), and percentages of species with different shapes at each lo- cality were compared among reef trends. Following Johnson et al. (1995), the four categories consist of: branching (19 species, 439 specimens), free-living (10 species, 133 specimens), massive and encrusting (43 species, 1100 spec
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