Coexistence of reef organisms in the Abrolhos Archipelago, Brazil

The first study on coexistence of reef benthic organisms in Brazilian coral reefs was done in three localities of the Abrolhos Archipelago. Organisms were recorded in concentric circle samples (10 and 20 cm in diameter) randomly laid on transects. Type and frequency of "coexistence events" between pairs of organisms were determined. Most frequent organisms (massive and branched coralline algae, Favia gravida, and Agaricia agaricites) also had many significant positive coexistence events. These results might be related to the abundances of these organisms. The most frequent coral (Siderastrea stellata), however, exhibited only a few significant coexistence events (9% of 32 tests). Since the great majority of events were positive, and since there was high variation in the species/groups involved in significant events in different localities, benthic communities of Abrolhos Archipelago may well be structured primarily by abiotic rather than biotic factors.