• Title/Summary/Keyword: coral reefs

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Coral Reefs in Indonesia: A Review on Anthropogenic and Natural Disturbances

  • Meinita, Maria Dyah Nur
    • Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2007
  • Coral reefs are among the most dynamic and various ecosystems on tropical ecosystem. They provide a large number of important ecosystem services. Despite their importance, they appear to be one of the most susceptible marine ecosystems. Dramatic decreasing of coral reefs has been reported from every part of the world. Indonesia contains 18% of coral reefs of world's total. Unfortunately the status of coral reefs in Indonesia is already in critical and poor condition. Coral reefs communities in Indonesia are subjected to a variety of environmental disturbance. Threats to Indonesia's coral reefs resources can be divided into two main types: anthropogenic and natural disturbances. The major anthropogenic disturbances on coral reefs in Indonesia are destructive fishing, pollution, coastal development, mining and harvesting live fish and coral, tourism. The natural disturbances such as cyclones, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami and predator also contribute to coral reefs destruction in Indonesia. In my paper I tried to compare between natural and anthropogenic disturbances on coral reefs in Indonesia and raised these questions: (i) how the natural disturbances differ from anthropogenic area (ii) which type of disturbances has caused the greatest impact on coral reef ecosystem. My finding is that both of anthropogenic and natural disturbances give major impact on coral reefs in Indonesia. The important issue here is coral reef resilience could be disturbed by synergistic effects between various anthropogenic and natural disturbances. This phenomenon has significant conservation and management implication. The appropriate management should be conducted to protect coral reefs ecosystem in Indonesia. Mangrove management will succeed only when local people are involved and get sustainable benefits from mangrove ecosystem. Community based management and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) are type of management that can be applied on coral reef ecosystems in Indonesia.

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Biak and Wakatobi reefs are the two hottest hotspots of coral reef fish diversity and abundance in the Indonesian Archipelago

  • Imam Bachtiar;Edwin Jefri;Muhammad Abrar;Tri Aryono Hadi
    • Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.25 no.11
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    • pp.549-558
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    • 2022
  • The Indonesian Archipelago has a very complex geological history, along with equatorial warm sea temperature, resulting in diverse types of coral reefs and high diversity of coral reef fish. Many livelihoods of the coastal community are dependent on coral reef fisheries. The present study aimed to determine which region and location in the Indonesian Archipelago has the most diverse and abundant coral reef fish. The archipelago was divided into four regions: the Indian Ocean, Sunda Shelf, Wallacea, and the Pacific Ocean. Data were obtained from a national coral reef monitoring program of the Indonesian Research Center for Oceanography (RCO)-the National Board for Research and Innovation (BRIN). The reef fish data were collected using the underwater visual census method, from 321 belt transects on 24 locations (districts) across the archipelago. The results show that coral reef fish diversity of the Pacific region was the highest across the archipelago for all three trophic levels, i.e., corallivore, herbivore, and carnivore fish. The Pacific Ocean region also had the highest fish abundance for the three trophic levels. Comparison among locations revealed that the best ten locations in reef fish diversity and abundance were Sabang, Mentawai, Makassar, Selayar, Buton, Luwuk, Ternate, Raja Ampat, Biak, and Wakatobi. Wakatobi reefs showed their supremacy in carnivore fish diversity and abundance, while Biak reefs were the best in herbivore fish. The abundance of corallivore fish was also considerably high in Sabang reefs, but it is still lower than in Raja Ampat, Biak, and Wakatobi reefs. These results provide empirical evidence that the coral reefs of Wakatobi and Biak are the hottest hotspots of coral reef fish diversity and abundance in the Indonesian Archipelago.

Photosynthetic carbon fixation by tropical coral reef phytoplankton assemblages: a UVR perspective

  • Li, Gang;Che, Zhiwei;Gao, Kunshan
    • ALGAE
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.281-288
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    • 2013
  • Photosynthetic carbon fixation regulates air-sea $CO_2$ fluxes in the waters of coral reefs. However, little has been documented on the effects of solar UV radiation (UVR, 280-400 nm) upon photosynthetic behaviors of phytoplankton dwelling in these ecosystems. In order to evaluate the aforesaid, surface dwelling tropical coral reef phytoplankton assemblages collected from the South China Sea were exposed to solar radiation (i.e., photosynthetically active radiation [PAR] + UV radiation A [UVA] + UV radiation B [UVB], 280-700 nm; PAR + UVA, 320-700 nm; and PAR, 400-700 nm) under static or simulated-mixing conditions. Under the static condition, UVA and UVB significantly reduced the carbon fixation with the maximum of 22.4 and 15.3%, respectively; while lower UVR-related photosynthetic inhibition was observed in case of phytoplankton samples being subjected to mixing. At a moderate level of mixing (i.e., circulation time 80 min), the UVA and UVB caused inhibition were lowered by 52.1 and 79.6%, respectively. Based on this it could be stated that vertical mixing induced by winds and/or tides in the natural environments could reduce the inhibitory effect of solar UVR on phytoplankton productivity in the coral reefs water.

Application of High-spatial-resolution Satellite Images to Monitoring Coral Reef Habitat Changes at Weno Island Chuuk, Micronesia

  • Choi, Jong-Kuk;Ryu, Joo-Hyung;Min, Jee-Eun
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.37 no.4
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    • pp.687-698
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    • 2021
  • We present quantitative estimations of changes in the areal extent of coral reef habitats at Weno Island, Micronesia, using high-spatial-resolution remote sensing images and field observations. Coral reef habitat maps were generated from Kompsat-2 satellite images for September 2008 and September 2010, yielding classifications with 78.6% and 72.4% accuracy, respectively, which is a relatively high level of agreement. The difference between the number of pixels occupied by each seabed type was calculated, revealing that the areal extent of living corals decreased by 8.2 percentage points between 2008 and 2010. This result is consistent with a comparison of the seabed types determined by field observations. This study can be used as a basis for remediation planning to diminish the impact of changes in coral reefs.

Lithothamnion steneckii sp. nov. and Pneophyllum conicum: new coralline red algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) for coral reefs of Brazil

  • Mariath, Rodrigo;Riosmena-Rodriguez, Rafael;Figueiredo, Marcia
    • ALGAE
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.249-258
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    • 2012
  • Nongeniculate coralline red algae are a common element of the Brazilian coastal zone, especially associated to coral reefs. During the course of ecological studies at Parque Municipal Marinho do Recife de Fora, two species of non-geniculate Corallinales were the major organisms covering the reef. Analyses of the vegetative and reproductive features of the species were analyzed; indicating that one new species of the genus Lithothamnion is proposed here based on the combination of several features associated with anatomy of the tetrasporangial conceptacles in relation to other species of the genus for which modern accounts are available. This new proposal along with other new species, new combinations and range extension of some species of the genus based in similar features clearly suggest that stability in species delimitation is possible. The second species found Pneophyllum conicum represents a range extension of more than 6,000 km from the Pacific in to the Atlantic Ocean suggesting that some nongeniculate species are widely distributed. The occurrence and abundance of these species supports and emphasizes the need for an extensive taxonomic reassessment of coralline red algae in the context of Brazilian coral reef biodiversity.

Spatial and temporal dynamics of the abundance of crustose calcareous algae on the southernmost coral reefs of the western Atlantic (Abrolhos Bank, Brazil)

  • Amado-Filho, Gilberto M.;Bahia, Ricardo G.;Mariath, Rodrigo;Jesionek, Michel B.;Moura, Rodrigo Leao;Bastos, Alex C.;Pereira-Filho, Guilherme Henrique;Francini-Filho, Ronaldo Bastos
    • ALGAE
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    • v.33 no.1
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    • pp.85-99
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    • 2018
  • Crustose calcareous algae (CCA) constitute one of the main reef builders on the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil. Once CCA taxonomy is locally understood, differences in growth-forms may be useful for the delimitation of taxa using characteristics such as the presence or absence of surface protuberances. Here, growth-forms were used to identify and quantify the most common CCA taxa on the shallow reefs (3-10 m) of the Abrolhos Bank to determine possible changes in the CCA community over a period of 10 years, and the ecological significance of CCA to local reefs was interpreted. The CCA assemblages were surveyed from 2006-2015 by using fixed photoquadrats at four sites in the inner (10-20 km from the mainland) and mid-shelf reefs (40-75 km from the mainland). The five most common CCA taxa were Pneophyllum conicum, the Lithophyllum kaiserii / Lithophyllum sp. complex, Melyvonnea erubescens, the Hydrolithon boergesenii / Porolithon onkodes complex and Peyssonelia sp. The overall mean CCA cover on the reefs was 20%. A comparison with a previous monitoring study in the same region indicated that the CCA cover nearly doubled from 2003-2008 to 2006-2015. This study reveals that the coral-killing species P. conicum dominated CCA flora on the shallow Abrolhos reefs in the last decade, and the local specific abundance of CCA slightly fluctuated over time and was species- and site-specific. The information obtained in this study contributes to the understanding of the ecology of the key calcifying components of the Abrolhos reefs and provides a useful baseline for exploring the responses of CCA to future environmental changes.

Detection of Small Shallow-water Coral Reefs on Landsat Imagery

  • Trisirisatayawong, Itthi;Samanloh, Watcharee
    • Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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    • 2003.11a
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    • pp.479-481
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    • 2003
  • Large number of coral reefs in Thailand waters make the use of satellite imagery probably the only practical method for their monitoring. This paper reports the result of detecting small shallow-water coral reef by using maximum likelihood classification technique. Combination of blue/green and near-infrared band ratio are used as spectral signatures derived from a Landsat 7 imagery covering western portion of the Gulf of Thailand. Result assessment reveals accuracy significantly over 60 percent. The result is encouraging and would be a basis for further study to realize the full potential and limitation of this technique.

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Coral Reef Habitat Monitoring Using High-spatial Satellite Imagery : A Case Study from Chuuk Lagoon in FSM (고해상도 위성영상을 이용한 산호초 서식환경 모니터링 : 축라군 웨노섬을 중심으로)

  • Min, Jee-Eun;Ryu, Joo-Hyung;Choi, Jong-Kuk;Park, Heung-Sik
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.53-61
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    • 2010
  • The distribution of coral reefs can be an indicator of environmental or anthropogenic impacts. Here, we present a habitat map of coral reefs developed using high-spatial satellite images. The study area was located on the north-eastern part of Weno island, in the Chuuk lagoon of Federated States of Micronesia. Two fieldwork expeditions were carried out between 2007 and 2008 to acquire optical and environmental data from 121 stations. We used an IKONOS image obtained in December 2000, and a Kompsat-2 image obtained in September 2008 for the purpose of coral reef mapping. We employed an adapted version of the object-based classification method for efficient classification of the high-spatial satellite images. The habitat map generated using Kompsat-2 was 72.22% accurate in terms of comparative analysis with in-situ measurements. The result of change detection analysis between 2000 and 2008 showed that coral reef distribution had decreased by 6.27% while seagrass meadows had increased by 8.0%.

The Conservation Value of Coral Communities in Moonseom Ecosystem Protected Area (문섬 등 주변해역 생태계보호구역 내 산호군락지의 보전가치)

  • Park, So-Yeon;Lee, Chang-Su;Kim, Min-Seop;Jo, In-Young;Yoo, Seung-Hoon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.101-111
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    • 2018
  • The Korean government has been trying to conserve a marine ecosystem that has been shifting due to climate change. As part of this effort, the government designated seventy-seven marine species that have been disappearing and deserve to be protected as endangered managing them specially. To generate basic data to guide policy for these endangered species, their value must be measured. OOf the species declared endangered, coral is particularly threatened by climate change, and its management is important. Accordingly, understanding the potential value of reefs, can be an effective way of proving the benefits of continuous management to decision makers and the general public alike. To this end, we have applied the contingent valuation method (CVM), an economic technique of for valuing a environmental and non-market goods such as a coral reef. A national face-to-face survey of 1,000 randomly selected households was conducted in order to determine the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for conserving coral reefs. A one-and-one-half-bound (OOHB) model was adopted to interpret WTP responses, and a spike model was employed to deal with zero WTP responses. The results show that the conservation value of a coral reef can be estimated at 3,016 won per household per year, statistically significant at the 1 % level. Expanding values to the national population gives an annual value of 58.9 billion won. We can conclude that the public is willing to pay a significant amount to conserve coral reefs.