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1.
Although reef corals worldwide have sustained epizootics in recent years, no coral diseases have been observed in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean until now. Here we present an overview of the main types of diseases and their incidence in the largest and richest coral reefs in the South Atlantic (Abrolhos Bank, eastern Brazil). Qualitative observations since the 1980s and regular monitoring since 2001 indicate that coral diseases intensified only recently (2005–2007). Based on estimates of disease prevalence and progression rate, as well as on the growth rate of a major reef-building coral species (the Brazilian-endemic Mussismilia braziliensis), we predict that eastern Brazilian reefs will suffer a massive coral cover decline in the next 50 years, and that M. braziliensis will be nearly extinct in less than a century if the current rate of mortality due to disease is not reversed.  相似文献   

2.
Field experiments were conducted to investigate the refraction and propagation of ocean waves across two coral reef platforms in the Maldives, central Indian Ocean. A total of seven pressure sensors were deployed on each reef to quantify temporal and spatial variations in wave characteristics across the platform surfaces. Directional wave properties were calculated from high frequency (2 Hz) wave and current records obtained at two locations on each reef and corroborate theoretically predicted propagation pathways derived from an analytical wave refraction model. Results demonstrate that reef geometry critically controls the refraction and propagation behaviour of incident swell across the reef structures. Differences in the magnitude of refraction (approximately 57° and 14°) observed on each reef can be attributed to variations in platform shape and orientation to incident waves. Results demonstrate that reef flat wave patterns define the segmentation of platform surfaces into distinctive high and low wave energy zones. Furthermore, wave focussing has been identified as a major mechanism controlling the transformation of wave energy across the reefs. Results provide the first field‐based validation of wave refraction and convergence on coral reefs and have significant implications for sedimentation processes and the formation of platform deposits. Reef configurations which promote marked wave convergence are more likely to retain sediment on the reef surface, whereas platforms that induce less refraction and changes in the direction of incident waves have a higher potential for the off‐reef evacuation of sediment over leeward reef margins. Results of wave measurements substantiate such projections and provide a first order explanation for the existence and absence of a coral cay on the two study reefs. The study presents empirical evidence of wave refraction and convergence on coral reefs and establishes a baseline for future investigations of hydrodynamic process controls on platform sedimentation and island formation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

3.
The extensive deterioration of coral reefs worldwide highlights the importance of creating efficient monitoring methods to best assess their state of health. At present, several suggested parameters serve such indicators. None of these, however, is well accepted as reliably representing reef community health. In the present study we examine a new approach based on the ratio between mortality and recruitment rates of branching corals, which we term 'Deterioration Index' (DI). It aims at providing a quantitative indication of the state of health of reef-building coral communities. The method was developed and tested on 16 coral communities on artificially laid rocks along the coast of Eilat, Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba). In contrast to frequently used indices (i.e. mortality rate, abundance and species richness), which did not demonstrate a consistent result in comparing disturbed vs. undisturbed coral communities, the DI revealed significant differences between these communities. Our results suggest that the use of the DI may enable the detection of disturbed coral communities in one instance monitoring, where the other parameters had failed. The DI, therefore, may provide a comparable quantitative assessment of the deterioration process and its intensity in a coral community. We propose the DI approach as an efficient and applicable tool for coral reef monitoring.  相似文献   

4.
The relative performance of (i) percent live cover, (ii) colony density, (iii) generic richness, (iv) partial colony mortality, and (v) colony size of hard corals were evaluated to determine which variables best discriminated the coral communities near a small river in Okinawa, Japan. An analysis of their variance was undertaken across a combination of sites at three depths, at increasing distance from a river's influence (Zatsun River). The river provides a periodic and localized input of sediment and fresh water to the adjacent coral reef; the effects of which we assume attenuate at increasing distance from the river mouth. The mean frequency of partially dead coral colonies (i.e., the proportion of live coral colonies that were partially dead) presented the clearest and most reliable response to river affect, and the power to discriminate among sites improved steadily with increasing depth. Spatial examination of the prevalence of partial mortality, regardless of how long ago the infliction occurred, provides a clear window to long-term processes involving population and community change and indeed the reef building capacity of the communities.  相似文献   

5.
One of the earliest quantitative surveys of soft corals, on a reef flat in Pago Pago Harbour, American Samoa, was repeated 85 years later. The alcyoniid communities there, which were the dominant benthic organisms during the initial survey, have suffered a drastic decline of 99% cover in the interim. The most likely causes of the decline are anthropogenic disturbance associated with reclamation along the harbour from the 1940s to early 1960s, compounded by chronic pollution from industrial wastewater discharge from the mid-1950s to late 1980s. The decline in one dominant species, Sinularia polydactyla, is likely to have serious consequences for the reef as unusually for a soft coral, this had been the major reef building species. Life-history traits of certain Sinularia and Sarcophyton, such as slow growth and low rates of sexual reproduction, mean they will be slower to recover from severe disturbance than many scleractinian corals.  相似文献   

6.
Coral reef fish communities in the Seychelles are highly diverse and remain less affected by the direct impacts of human activities than those on many other coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. These factors make them highly suitable for a detailed survey of the impacts of the 1998 mass coral mortality, which devastated the coral faunas of the region. Using underwater visual census (UVC) techniques. fish communities were sampled in three localities in the southern Seychelles and one locality in the northern (granitic) Seychelles. Initial surveys were undertaken from the latter site in 1997. Surveys were undertaken at all sites during the coral bleaching episode in 1998 prior to any major changes in the reef fish communities. Repeat surveys were undertaken in 1999 one year after the coral mortality. Over 250 fish species were sampled from 35 families. Results suggest that changes in the overall fish community structures are not great, despite massive changes in the benthic cover. Significant changes have been observed in a number of individual species. These include those most heavily dependent on live coral cover for shelter or sustenance. Future potential changes are discussed, and potential management interventions are considered.  相似文献   

7.
Coral community structure is often governed by a suite of processes that are becoming increasingly influenced by land-use changes and related terrestrial discharges. We studied sites along a watershed gradient to examine both the physical environment and the associated biological communities. Transplanted corals showed no differences in growth rates and mortality along the watershed gradient. However, coral cover, coral richness, and coral colony density increased with increasing distance from the mouth of the bay. There was a negative relationship between coral cover and mean suspended solids concentration. Negative relationships were also found between terrigenous sedimentation rates and the richness of adult and juvenile corals. These results have major implications not only for Pacific islands but for all countries with reef systems downstream of rivers. Land development very often leads to increases in river runoff and suspended solids concentrations that reduce coral cover and coral diversity on adjacent reefs.  相似文献   

8.
Emiko  Ikeda  Yasufumi  Iryu  Kaoru  Sugihara  Hideo  Ohba  Tsutomu  Yamada 《Island Arc》2006,15(4):407-419
Abstract Investigations were conducted on bathymetry, reef biota and sediments on the Hirota Reef, Tane‐ga‐shima, North Ryukyus, near the northern limit for coral‐reef formation. A bathymetric profile from shore to the reef edge was depicted along an approximately 420‐m transect on the Hirota Coast of this island. A total of 20 quadrats (1 m × 1 m) were analyzed along the profile at 10‐ or 20‐m intervals to clarify distribution of macrobenthos inhabiting the reef. The Hirota Reef is divided into four geomorphologic zones according to their depth, gradient, surface roughness, substrate and characteristic macrobenthos. They are, from shore to offshore, shallow lagoon, seaward reef flat, reef edge and reef slope. The shallow lagoon comprises a shoreward depression (∼160 m wide on the transect) with a sand/gravel bottom that inclines gently toward offshore, and a seaward patch zone (∼70 m wide). The patches (<2 m high) are covered with fleshy algae, coralline algae and hermatypic corals. The seaward reef flat (∼190 m wide) is a flat plane that is constructed by biogenic carbonates and is covered with turf algae, with hermatypic corals scattered. Although the seaward reef flat of the Hirota Reef cannot be differentiated into different geomorphologic zones, similar seaward reef flat areas in the Central and South Ryukyus can be clearly subdivided into inner reef flat, reef crest and outer reef flat. This difference may be attributed to a lower reef growth rate and/or the later reef formation of the Hirota Reef in Holocene time than the southern examples. The coral fauna on the Hirota Reef is delineated by low diversity and characterized by taxa typical of high‐latitude, non‐reefal communities. The algal flora consists of tropical to subtropical species associated with warm‐temperate species. These faunal and floral characteristics may be related largely to lower water temperature in Tane‐ga‐shima than those in typical coral‐reef regions.  相似文献   

9.
Many cultured pearl farms are located in areas of the Pacific that have thriving, highly diverse fish communities but the impacts of farming on these communities are poorly understood. We studied the effects of pearl oyster farming on shore fish abundance and diversity in the lagoon of Ahe, French Polynesia by adapting roving diver census methods to the coral reef bommies of the lagoon and compared 16 sites with high pearl farming impact to others with no direct impact. Pearl farming has a slightly positive effect on reef fish abundance (N) and no significant impact on fish diversity (H) or community composition. This is important when considering the ecological sustainability of pearl farming in French Polynesia and suggests that a potential synergy between pearl farms and marine conservation should be further explored.  相似文献   

10.
11.
The abnormally high surface temperatures in the world's oceans during 1997/1998 resulted in widespread coral bleaching and subsequent coral mortality. An experiment was performed to study the effects of this coral mortality as well as the influence of the structural complexity on fish communities on a Tanzanian coral reef. Changes in fish communities were investigated on plots of transplanted corals after 88% of these corals had died. A distinct shift in fish community composition was found, although diversity was not affected. Fish abundance rose by 39% mostly due to an increase in herbivores, which seemed to benefit from enhanced algal growth on the dead corals. Fish abundance, species diversity and community composition were also strongly influenced by the structural complexity provided by the live and dead corals. This suggests that a coral reef can support abundant and diverse fish populations also after the corals have died as long as the reef structure is sustained.  相似文献   

12.
Carbonate mineralogy of El Qasr reef sediments, north of Jeddah on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, was studied by X-ray analysis. Although the mineralogical composition varies only little, there are significant differences in the proportions of aragonite and high Mg-calcite between the environments. Lagoon sediments, which contain relatively more fine-grained material, are characterized by higher aragonite concentrations than the reef flat sediments. Decreasing grain size and increasing aragonite contents towards the centre of the lagoon suggest a transport of aragonitic mud from the shallow reef flat to the lagoon. The amount of fine fraction and occasionally the nature of the coarse fraction rather than the sand-sized skeletal material controls the aragonite concentrations in the reef sediments. Low Mg-calcite, which occurs in minor quantities and is erratically distributed in the reef sediments, is derived from the Pleistocene coral limestone in the coastal plain. Aragonite abundances in the sediments may be considered to delineate lagoon and reef flat environments in a coral reef complex.  相似文献   

13.
Coral species composition of drilled cores from emergent bank reefs, and coral cover of the surface of old and living reefs located along the coast of the state of Bahia, Eastern Brazil, revealed that there is a marked change in the occurrence of the major building coral species in different time intervals of the reef structure, as well as in the living surface of reefs located in two different geographical sites. Holocene core sections from two reef areas (12 degrees 40'S-38 degrees 00'W and 18 degrees 00'S-39 degrees 00'W) have as major reef builders, on its topmost core interval (3 to 4 ky old), the endemic coral Mussismilia braziliensis Verrill, 1868, which also dominate on the 2.5-3.5 ky old surfaces of truncated reef tops. At the base of the cores (the 2m lower interval, older than 4 ky BP), another endemic coral Mussismilia harttii Verrill, 1868 is the dominant reef component. The relative abundance of M. braziliensis on the living surfaces of shallow reefs from both areas, shows that in the southern area, it is up to 98% on reefs located 60 km off the coast, in depths between 3 and 4m, but do not exceed 1.3% on the surface of the northern reefs located 1-2 km off the coast in depths 4-5m. The Holocene falling sea level that occurred along the coast of Brazil since 5.1 ky BP, causes an increasing runoff into the area of coastal reefs. This phenomenon may have affected the nearshore reef building fauna, replacing a more susceptive coral fauna with one better adapted to low light levels and higher sediment influx. The high turbidity associated with early Holocene shelf flooding, should also be responsible for the absence of M. braziliensis during the initial stages of reef buildup in Brazil. At the present time, the rapidly increasing human pressure, due to changes in land uses of the coastal zone (increasing sedimentation rate, nutrification of coastal waters, industrial pollution) and underwater practices, such as overfishing and an intense tourism, is aggravating the recovery capacity of this already naturally threatened coral community. If this situation coupled with increasing sea surface temperature persists, modern coral reef growth, in Brazil cannot be maintained and the major reef building coral species of the reefs in Bahia, a remnant endemic coral fauna will very soon appear in the list of endangered species.  相似文献   

14.
Most current coral reef management is supported by mapping and monitoring limited in record length and spatial extent. These deficiencies were addressed in a multidisciplinary study of cyclone impacts on Aboré Reef, New-Caledonia. Local knowledge, high thematic-resolution maps, and time-series satellite imagery complemented classical in situ monitoring methods. Field survey stations were selected from examination of pre- and post-cyclone images and their post-cyclone coral communities documented in terms of substrata, coral morphologies, live coral cover, and taxonomy. Time-series maps of hierarchically defined coral communities created at spatial scales documenting the variability among communities (29-45 classes) and suggesting the processes that affected them. The increased spatial coverage and repeatability of this approach significantly improved the recognition and interpretation of coral communities’ spatio-temporal variability. It identified precise locations of impacted areas and those exhibiting coral recovery and resilience. The approach provides a comprehensive suite of information on which to base reef-scale conservation actions.  相似文献   

15.
A typical reef occurs in the eastern part of south Qinling Mountains in Sanlixia, Xunyang, Shaanxi Province. The reef, extending in north-south direction, was built up by various kinds of calcareous tubes including Girvanella, tubular cyanobacteria and problem microbials. The bioclastic bank, built up by algal clasts, foraminiferous, and fusulinids, formed the reef basement, on which dasyclads baffle bioclasts formed the original bafflestone at a small scale on the reef basement, and then a mass of bindstone was made up by all kinds of calcareous tubes and algae. On lateral part the reef is cryptalgal mudstone. The reef that occurred in the geosynclinal area is so familiar with one of the platforms in many respects, such as in reef structure, morphology and building mold. This indicates that building organisms have amazing adaptability and identity for building capacity in the two kinds of geotectonic background mentioned above.  相似文献   

16.
17.
The topographical complexity of coral reefs is of primary importance for a number of hydrodynamical and ecological processes. The present study is based on a series of high-resolution seabottom elevation measurements along the Maupiti Barrier Reef, French Polynesia. Several statistical metrics and spectral analysis are used to characterize the spatial evolution of the coral geometrical structure from the reef crest to the backreef. A consistent fractal-like power law exists in the spectral density of bottom elevation for length scales between 0.1 and 7 m, while at larger scale, the reef structure shows a different pattern. Such a fine characterization of the reef geometrical structure provides key elements to reconstruct the reef history, to improve the representation of reef roughness in hydrodynamical models and to monitor the evolution of coral reef systems in the context of global change. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

18.
Partial mortality and fission on colonies of four common massive coral species were examined at sites differing in their exposure to river sediments in St. Lucia, West Indies. Rates of partial mortality were higher close to the river mouths, where more sediments were deposited, than away from the rivers in two coral species. Frequency of fission showed no significant trend. The percent change in coral cover on reefs from 1995 to 1998 was negatively related to the rate of partial mortality estimated in 1998 in all species. This suggests that partial mortality rates could reflect longer-term temporal changes in coral communities. Similar conclusions could also be reached using a less precise measure and simply recording partial mortality on colonies as <50% and >/=50% dead tissue. We conclude that partial mortality in some species of massive reef corals, expressed as the amount of dead tissue per colony, could provide a rapid and effective means of detecting sediment stress on coral reefs.  相似文献   

19.
Coral reef fisheries are critical for food security and as a source of income in developing and developed countries, but they are collapsing in many areas. Following the emergence and routine availability of commercial very high spatial resolution (0.6-10 m) multispectral satellite images, we reviewed the use of these new high-quality remote sensing data and products for coral reef fisheries management. The availability of habitats maps improves management by guiding sampling strategies, mapping resources, involving local communities, identifying conservation areas, and facilitating Ecosystem Based Fishery Management (EBFM) approaches. However, despite their potential, very little use of products designed specifically for fishery management can be reported, likely due to high costs, inherent technology limitations and lack of awareness on the possibilities. Given the theoretical benefits brought by relevant habitat maps in EBFM frameworks, we advocate the use of adequate remote sensing products that integrate fishery technical services demands and local requirements.  相似文献   

20.
This research focuses on coral reef health in the South Pacific region, an area of high global coral diversity. Coral reef health surrounding four island case studies in the Cook Islands and Fiji have been assessed in areas that have not been previously surveyed. This study compares four islands with barrier and fringing reefs that have different levels of economic development, population pressure, land-use practices, and marine management practices. This interdisciplinary research methodology includes both ecological and social data collection to further understanding of human environment interactions. In comparing the reefs with different socio-economic factors, this research shows that reefs with traditional systems of resources management are healthier, population pressure is not the main factor causing the demise of the reefs and agro-industry is the main industry causing the degradation of the reef in these four South Pacific Islands. In addition, researchers need to use a whole reef perspective to examine coral reef health.  相似文献   

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