Demography and population dynamics of massive coral communities in adjacent high latitude regions (United Arab Emirates)

PLoS One. 2013 Aug 21;8(8):e71049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071049. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Individual massive coral colonies, primarily faviids and poritids, from three distinct assemblages within the southeastern Arabian Gulf and northwestern Gulf of Oman (United Arab Emirates) were studied from 2006-2009. Annual photographic censuses of approximately 2000 colonies were used to describe the demographics (size class frequencies, abundance, area cover) and population dynamics under "normal" environmental conditions. Size class transitions included growth, which occurred in 10-20% of the colonies, followed in decending order by partial mortality (3-16%), colony fission (<5%) and ramet fusion (<3%). Recruitment and whole colony mortality rates were low (<0.7 colonies/m(2)) with minimal interannual variation. Transition matrices indicated that the Arabian Gulf assemblages have declining growth rates (λ<1) whereas the massive coral population is stable (λ = 1) in the Gulf of Oman. Projection models indicated that (i) the Arabian Gulf population and area cover declines would be exacerbated under 10-year and 16-year disturbance scenarios as the vital rates do not allow for recovery to pre-disturbance levels during these timeframes, and (ii) the Gulf of Oman assemblage could return to its pre-disturbance area cover but its overall population size would not fully recover under the same scenarios.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Anthozoa / physiology*
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Coral Reefs
  • Environmental Monitoring / methods
  • Geography
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Population Density
  • Population Dynamics
  • Probability
  • Species Specificity
  • United Arab Emirates

Grants and funding

National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) at Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center provided funding to the authors for the duration of this study. Additionally, funding for this study was provided by Dolphin Energy Ltd., in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature - Emirates Wildlife Society (WWF-EWS), in 2006–2007 as part of a project called “Coral Reef Investgations in Abu Dhabi and Eastern Qatar”, for which NCRI was the technical advisor. Field support including the use of boats, staff, research stations and other equipment was provided by NCRI, the Environmental Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD), Dibba Marine Centre of the Ministry of Environment and Water, Dibba-Fujairah Municipality, Fujairah Municipality, and Fujairah Marina Club. The funders were involved in the study design as follows: 1) The “Coral Investigations” project began in 2005, a year prior to this study. NCRI and EAD had selected several of the Arabian Gulf monitoring station locations in 2005. The authors selected additional Arabian Gulf sites in 2006 and 2007 and all Gulf of Oman sites in 2006 with the approval of NCRI and the respective team members and agencies in Abu Dhabi, Dibba and Fujairah. 2) The configuration of the three belt transects which radiated from a central point and from which all photo mosaics were created was previously used by Dr. Bernhard Riegl of NCRI. This pattern was replicated throughout this study. All monitoring stations were physically installed by the authors and local team members. The funders had no role in data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.URLs for funders: http://www.nova.edu/ocean/ncri/index.html; http://www.dolphinenergy.com/; http://uae.panda.org/ews_wwf/who_we_are/.