This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Montastraea annularis | |
|---|---|
| Name | Montastraea annularis |
| Regnum | Animalia |
| Phylum | Cnidaria |
| Classis | Anthozoa |
| Ordo | Scleractinia |
| Familia | Montastraeidae |
| Genus | Montastraea |
| Species | M. annularis |
| Binomial | Montastraea annularis |
| Binomial authority | (Ellis & Solander, 1786) |
Montastraea annularis is a species of large reef‑building stony coral historically recognized as a dominant framework builder on Western Atlantic and Caribbean reefs. It was central to foundational studies in coral reef ecology by researchers associated with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, University of Miami, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and featured in regional conservation planning by organizations including the IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund. The taxon has been the focus of taxonomic revisions, long‑term monitoring programs, and bleaching research led by groups at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Caribbean Coral Reef Society.
Described by Daniel Solander and John Ellis in the 18th century, the species has been treated within historical works of the Linnaean Society and later revisions by taxonomists at the Natural History Museum, London, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Royal Society. Molecular phylogenetic studies conducted at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute contributed to reassessments of the genus, which intersect with nomenclatural debates documented by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The name has appeared in faunal surveys from the Greater Antilles, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Montastraea annularis was characterized in classical field guides used by managers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and researchers at the Caribbean Marine Research Center. Colonies reach massive, boulder‑like dimensions noted in expedition reports from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (comparative works) and are formed by numerous corallites visible in plate illustrations produced by the Field Museum and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Microstructure studies published through collaborations between the University of California, Santa Barbara and the National Autonomous University of Mexico detailed septal arrangements and skeletal density relevant to paleoecological reconstructions used by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Historical and contemporary range descriptions appear in checklists curated by the Caribbean Biodiversity Program, the Pan American Health Organization (reefs as coastal habitats), and inventories from the Bahamas National Trust. The species occurred across reef zones from shallow fore‑reef slopes documented in surveys by the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science to deeper patch reef systems reported by teams from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Nature Conservancy. Records from the Yucatán Peninsula, Jamaica, and the Lesser Antilles informed biogeographic syntheses in atlases produced with input from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Field experiments on grazing interactions involving fishes monitored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and invertebrate dynamics studied by the Smithsonian Marine Station illustrated the role of the species in reef trophic networks described in reviews by the National Academy of Sciences. Associations with symbiotic dinoflagellates were investigated by laboratories at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, informing models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to assess reef vulnerability. Colony growth patterns and competition with macroalgae were central to restoration strategies developed with partners including the XPRIZE Foundation (marine categories) and regional management bodies like the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Reproductive timing and larval development were documented in spawning studies conducted at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute, and field programs supported by the National Science Foundation. Mass spawning events synchronized with lunar cycles were compared across sites studied by teams from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Puerto Rico, and larval dispersal models informed by oceanography groups at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Recruitment monitoring used protocols standardized by the Coral Reef Alliance and the Reef Check Foundation.
Population declines documented in assessments by the IUCN Red List and regional reports from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) reflected impacts from bleaching events studied by researchers at the NOAA Coral Reef Watch program, disease outbreaks surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (marine disease collaborations), and coastal development pressures addressed in policy work by the World Bank and United Nations Environment Programme. Conservation responses include protected area designations advocated by the Nature Conservancy and recovery planning incorporated into management by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Bahamas National Trust.
The species featured in historical collections at the British Museum and specimen databases curated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and has been central to experimental research by laboratories at the University of Queensland and the Max Planck Society (marine ecology initiatives). Outreach and citizen science programs run by the Coral Restoration Foundation, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, and university extension services helped translate scientific findings into reef stewardship actions promoted by agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Ongoing genetic, ecological, and restoration research continues through collaborations among the Smithsonian Institution, NOAA Fisheries, and international partners spanning the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the European Union.
Category:Scleractinia Category:Marine fauna of the Caribbean