西沙群岛珊瑚礁生态系统恢复的可行性研究

全球珊瑚礁生态系统处于不断变化当中,有衰退的区域,也有恢复的区域,这就需要一个务实的方法来鉴别这种不确定性。健康的珊瑚礁生态系统可以应对对珊瑚礁群落结构起重要作用的自然干扰,可以从严重干扰中恢复过来,但要完全恢复可能需花费数十年时间。受人类长期影响的区域,为了能有恢复机会,就需要采取一些恢复措施(直接和间接的方法)让其恢复。珊瑚礁恢复绝不应该被夸大,应该清楚地了解它的局限性,这项工作仍处于起步阶段。文章以西沙群岛的珊瑚礁生态系统为例,讨论了其珊瑚礁生态系统恢复的可行性。     

涠洲岛珊瑚礁生态恢复可行性评估及其恢复策略

广西涠洲岛地处世界珊瑚礁分布的北缘,其造礁石珊瑚具有较高的生态价值和科学研究价值,然而近30年来涠洲岛的造礁石珊瑚资源呈逐年下降趋势,正面临生物多样性衰退和生态服务功能下降的威胁。本研究针对涠洲岛珊瑚礁生态衰退区域,参照珊瑚礁生态恢复潜力评估决策流程进行恢复可行性评估和恢复策略探讨。结果显示,该区域有造礁石珊瑚5科10属21种;表征海水水质质量的6项指标均在I类水质标准范围,且常年处于贫营养化;大型海藻覆盖率不足1.00%,90.00%以上的珊瑚礁鱼类为杂食性,且该鱼类种群结构有利于调控大型海藻的暴发性生长,与大型藻类和浮游动植物的多样性相适应,适宜珊瑚生长。但该区域造礁石珊瑚平均覆盖率仅有5.60%,底质类型57.27%为礁石,34.30%的底质为非稳定的碎石和砂,珊瑚幼体补充量平均为3.17 ind/m²,珊瑚幼体更新缓慢。以上结果表明,涠洲岛珊瑚礁具有一定的自然恢复潜力,但珊瑚覆盖率低、幼体补充量少以及部分底质结构不稳定是限制涠洲岛珊瑚礁自然恢复的主要因素,需要加强人工干预。在减少人类活动干扰的前提下,适时进行园艺式培育珊瑚苗种、批量珊瑚原位种植和构建人工珊...     

中国珊瑚礁资源状况及其药用研究调查Ⅱ. 资源衰退状况、保护与管理

对中国珊瑚礁资源衰退状况和原因进行了调查和分析.结果表明,中国南海珊瑚礁资源衰退状况严重,珊瑚礁破坏率高达 90%以上,其中,占全国珊瑚礁总面积98%的海南,80%～95%的珊瑚礁受到破坏.除自然因素外,对珊瑚礁资源的不当的、过度的开发利用,社会经济发展带来的海洋环境污染等人为因素,是珊瑚礁资源衰退的主要原因.建立南中国海珊瑚礁生态系统保护与管理国际合作机制,正确评估珊瑚礁的生态功能与价值,建立珊瑚礁自然保护区及监测网络系统,是中国珊瑚礁资源保护性开发利用的可行对策.     

徐闻珊瑚礁区浮游植物的季节变化

2006年8月-2007年4月对广东省徐闻珊瑚礁区的浮游植物进行了周年的季节调查,结果共检出浮游植物262种(包括变种和变型):春季82种、夏季117种、秋季119种、冬季141种,其中硅藻门67属252种,甲藻门5属8种,蓝藻门1属2种.优势种共有37种:春季8种、夏季7种、秋季9种、冬季13种,几乎全为广温广盐性沿岸种类,群落结构具有亚热带和沿岸性特征,主要优势种为太平洋海链藻Thalassiosira pacirica、中肋骨条藻Skeletonema costatum、奇异菱形藻Nitxschiaparadoxa,f rhombus和细弱海链藻Thalassiosira subtilis等,没有全年广布优势种;四季均出现的种类共有24种,全为硅藻,各季节间共有种类数在42-61种,Jaccard种类相似性指数范围在0.256-0.310,季节更替明显.多样性指数和均匀度平均值分别为4.02和0.59,物种非常丰富:浮游植物细胞密度在(5.35-12.87)×104cells/L之间,冬季最高,夏季次之,秋季最低,属双峰型变化,但与一般亚热带春、秋季出现密度高峰不一致.叶绿素α含量与浮游植物密度存在着极显著的正相关.而细胞密度、叶绿素口含量与各营养盐之间不存在明显的相关性.从浮游植物吸收N、P的配比分析.N为春、夏、秋3季的营养限制因子,P为冬季的营养限制因子,但从N、P的绝对值看,N和P都是全年的营养限制因子,因此其水质营养类型属于亚热带贫营养型.在南北方向上,4个季节活性磷酸盐在各断面的含量依次均为B>D>A>E>C,这可能与该海区的流场特征及海底沉积物有关.     

徐闻珊瑚礁自然保护区礁栖生物初步研究

综合2000、2004年的调查结果,徐闻珊瑚礁自然保护区内有造礁石珊瑚12科42种,而保护区的核心区、缓冲区和试验区内珊瑚礁低潮带至潮下带上部的8个断面10个站的大型底栖生物有8类45科101种,其中大多数种类属于印度—太平洋热带区系。优势类群是软体动物和节肢动物,底栖生物的平均生物量、栖息密度和多样性指数分别是1043.37 g/m2、692.37个/m2和5.5228。位于保护区南部核心区的断面Ⅰ和Ⅱ有着最高的多样性(5.1389和5.0077)和均匀度(0.9470和0.9286),而其他分属核心区、缓冲区和试验区的6个断面的多样性指数和均匀度指数差异不大。总体上看,造礁石珊瑚和珊瑚礁的存在为其他底栖生物提供了良好的生态环境,从而丰富了本区底栖生物的种类组成和数量。     

三亚珊瑚礁国家级自然保护区生物多样性保护探讨

文章对三亚珊瑚礁国家级自然保护区的生物多样性历史与现状进行分析,并借鉴几年来三亚珊瑚礁保护区依托 “中国南部沿海生物多样性管理”项目,开展多层次的保护行动及所取得的成效,提出加强资源监测、保护区共建、社区共管和公众意识教育的建议。     

海南省珊瑚礁生物多样性保护战略与行动计划

文章简述了海南省珊瑚礁生物多样性概况,总结了海南省珊瑚礁生物多样性保护工作的成效和问题。提出了珊瑚礁生物多样性保护的指导思想、基本原则、战略目标和保护任务,确定了珊瑚礁生物多样性保护的5个优先领域:①完善珊瑚礁保护与可持续利用的法律体系和管理机制;②开展珊瑚礁多样性调查、评估与监测;③加强珊瑚礁多样性保护和管理;④加强基础建设;⑤提高珊瑚礁应对气候变化能力;并提出了优先领域相应的行动计划和行动内容。     

保护海岛资源科学开发和利用海岛

海岛是我国经济发展中一个很特殊的区域。一般地,把陆域面积大于500m^2的称之为岛,小于500m^2的称之为礁。我国是世界上海岛最多的国家之一。据统计,在我国6500余个海岛中(未含海南岛、台湾岛及台湾省224个海岛、香港183个海岛和澳门的3个海岛),绝大部分无人     

海南珊瑚礁生物多样性的保护现状与研究展望

珊瑚礁生物多样性保护是全球面临的重要问题之一,文章对海南珊瑚礁生物多样性保护现状进行了综述,分析了海南珊瑚礁生物多样性面临的主要威胁。在此基础上,提出了珊瑚礁生物多样性保护中亟须解决的问题。     

雷州半岛灯楼角珊瑚礁初步观察

雷州半岛西南岸的珊瑚礁，是唯一的中国大陆沿现代珊瑚礁，本文报道了对雷州半岛西南端灯楼角地区的珊瑚礁的观察结果，本区地处琼州海责和北部湾的会合点，属热带北缘大陆沿海水环境，本区珊瑚礁是冰后期海侵以来形的，分为岸礁和离岸礁两类，厚度一般为1－3m，宽度约500－1000m，构成原生礁 中的优势种为角孔珊瑚（Goniopora)，现在造礁石珊瑚主要有滨珊瑚（Porites)，峰巢瑚（Favia)和鹿角珊瑚（Acropora)等11属，西岸的表瑚生长比东岸的好，本区岸礁的生态分带为；（1）内礁坪光滩带；（2）外礁坪珊瑚生产烯疏带，（3）礁前水下斜坡上部珊瑚林带，本区珊瑚资源已开发和人为破坏严重，亟待进行科学调查研究，管理和保护。     

Coral reef restoration projects in Thailand

The degradation and deterioration of coral reefs in Thailand has continued for several decades due to pressures from fishery and tourism activities and, more recently, from bleaching. Several institutions and organizations, from both the government and the private sector, have been involved in programs to restore degraded coral reefs. The objectives, scales and methods of these restoration projects have varied widely. This paper briefly reviews the achievements of selected coral reef restoration projects and provides guidelines for future restoration initiatives. The high cost and limited scale of restoration projects puts the onus on governments and communities to prevent damage to coral reefs in the first place. Where restoration is necessary, basic data on the biology and ecology of target species of corals, socio-economic analyses and the involvement of local communities in all stages of the project are key elements for success.     

Coral reef education in schools of Quintana Roo, Mexico

Coral reefs are vital to the livelihood of coastal communities in Quintana Roo, México and the preservation of these ecosystems relies on the establishment of protected areas. Education should be one of the most important management tools in coral reef preservation. Surveys were made among primary and secondary school students of Quintana Roo to determine the level of education regarding coral reefs and their importance. Students had little awareness about reefs. Coverage of coral reef issues is insufficient in school curricula and information media. Many students will leave school and become users of the reef with little understanding of it and of the consequences of exploitation of the reef. Creation of marine parks has not increased education and public awareness. There is an immediate need to establish appropriate and continuously available educational programs in order to preserve coral reefs. Education should encourage codes of behavior and community support to management issues.     

Coral reef metrics and habitat equivalency analysis

When coral reefs held in United States public trust are injured by incidents such as vessel groundings or oil spills, a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process may be conducted to quantify the resource service loss. Coral cover has been used as an indicator metric to represent lost services in habitat equivalency analyses for determination of compensatory restoration. Depending on the injury and habitat, however, lost services may be more comprehensively represented by alternative approaches such as composite metrics which incorporate other coral reef community characteristics, or a resource-scale approach utilizing size-frequency distributions of injured organisms. We describe the evolving state of practice for capturing coral reef ecosystem services within the natural resources damage assessment context, explore applications and limitations of current metrics, and suggest future directions that may increase the likelihood that NRDA metrics more fully address ecosystem services affected by an injury.     

Coral mass bleaching and reef temperatures at Navassa Island, 2006

Bleaching and associated mortality is an extreme threat to the persistence of coral populations in the projected warming regime of the next few decades. Recent evidence indicates that thermal bleaching thresholds may be affected by water quality gradients. The unexpected encounter of a coral mass bleaching event at a remote, uninhabited Caribbean island (Navassa) during a routine reef assessment cruise in November 2006 provided the opportunity to characterize bleaching responses and thermal exposure in an oceanic area with negligible continental influence or human impact on water quality. The coral taxa most susceptible to bleaching were Agaricia spp. and Montastraea faveolata. Siderastraea siderea, Diploria spp. and Porites porites were intermediately affected, while Porites astreoides and Montastraea cavernosa were minimally affected and negligible bleaching was observed in Acropora palmata. Bleaching prevalence (colonies > 4 cm diameter) ranged from 0.16 to 0.63 among sites. Deeper sites (between 18 and 37 m) had significantly higher prevalence of bleaching than shallow sites (<10 m). This general pattern of more bleaching in deeper sites also occurred within species. Though exposure to high-temperature stress was not greater at deeper sites, water motion, which may bolster bleaching resistance, was likely less. In situ loggers indicated temperatures over 30 °C initiated at shallow sites in mid-August, at deeper sites in early September, and were persistent at all sites until mid-October. Long term (1983–2007) climatologies constructed from AVHRR SSTs suggest that the mass bleaching event observed at Navassa in 2006 corresponded with greater intensity and duration of warm temperature anomalies than occurred in 2005, for which no in situ observations (bleaching nor temperature) are available.     

Coral reef management in Belize: an approach through integrated coastal zone management

Belize has one of the most extensive reef ecosystems in the Western Hemisphere, comprising one of the largest barrier reefs in the world, three atolls and a complex network of inshore reefs. Until recently, the main impacts were probably from natural events such as hurricanes. However, anthropogenic threats such as sedimentation, agrochemical run-off, coastal development, tourism and overfishing are now of concern. To limit these impacts, Belize is taking the approach of integrated coastal zone management. The programme is building on the existing legislative framework and involves the development of an appropriate institutional structure to co-ordinate management activities in the coastal zone. A Coastal Zone Management Plan is being prepared, which will include many measures that will directly benefit the reefs: a zoning scheme for the coastal zone, incorporating protected areas; legislation and policy guidelines; research and monitoring programmes; education and public awareness campaigns; measures for community participation; and a financial sustainability mechanism.     

涠洲岛珊瑚礁近千年的发育过程及其对气候变化的响应*

高纬度珊瑚栖息地能否成为气候变暖背景下热带珊瑚物种的“避难所”仍不明确, 南海北部的相关研究更是稀少。本文以取自涠洲岛的2根珊瑚礁沉积岩心为研究对象, 通过U-Th定年、沉积组分分析以及珊瑚种属鉴定等方法, 探讨近千年以来珊瑚礁的发育过程及其对气候变化的响应。研究结果发现, Core1(石螺口)岩心沉积的3个快速堆积阶段分别与罗马暖期、中世纪暖期和现代暖期大致对应; 而2个缓慢堆积阶段则分别与黑暗时代冷期和小冰期大致对应, 证实了温暖的气候对珊瑚礁发育有促进作用, 而寒冷的气候则不利于珊瑚礁的发育; 此外, 现代强烈的人为干扰可能也导致了涠洲岛珊瑚礁的迅速退化。Core2(南湾)中陆源沉积含量高, 珊瑚年龄主要集中在800AD—950AD和现代这两个时间段内, 其原因可能与环境变化、风暴作用及湾内现代珊瑚分布特征有关。通过对比这两个站位的珊瑚礁沉积特征, 本文进一步提出“完全避难所”和“非完全避难所”的概念, 揭示涠洲岛珊瑚可能同时具有低纬度热带珊瑚礁和高纬度珊瑚群落这两种发育特征和趋势。     

Coral bleaching and habitat effects on colonisation of reef fish assemblages: An experimental study

Degradation and mortality of corals is increasing worldwide and is expected to have significant effects on coral reef fish; hence studies on these effects are essential. In the present study, a field experiment was set up within Mafia Island Marine Park in Tanzania (East Africa) to examine the effects of bleaching and habitat structure on colonisation of coral reef fish assemblages. Live and bleached staghorn coral Acropora formosa was transplanted onto plots in a site dominated by sand and rubble, and the experimental design comprised of three treatments: live coral, bleached coral and eroded coral rubble. There was an immediate increase (within 24 h) in fish abundance and diversity in the two treatments with standing corals. Overall, live and bleached coral plots showed similar effects, but differed from the eroded coral plots which had a much lower abundance and diversity of fish. In general, fish species diversity changed with time over the study period while fish abundance did not. Multivariate analyses showed that while there were differences in fish assemblage structure between standing corals and the eroded coral treatment, there was neither a difference between live and bleached coral treatments nor any temporal effects on fish assemblage structure. Our findings suggest that physical structure and complexity of habitat have stronger effects on colonisation of reef fish assemblages than changes in coral health (such as bleaching) which do not affect coral structure. This may have important implications for appropriate coral reef management.     

Coral reef ecological pump for gathering and retaining nutrients and exporting carbon: a review and perspectives

How coral reefs with high productivity and biodiversity can flourish in oligotrophic tropical oceans has inspired substantial research on coral reef ecosystems. Increasing evidence shows that similar to water in an oasis in the desert, there are stable nutrient supplies to coral reefs in oligotrophic oceans. Here, with emphasis on the fluxes of organic matter, we summarize at the ecosystem level(1) the multiple input pathways of external nutrients,(2) the storage of nutrients in reef organisms,(...