Juvenile-adult Colour Patterns and Coexistence in the Territorial Coral Reef Fish Pomacanthus imperator

Abstract. The coexistence of juvenile and adult territorial Pomacanthus imperator was studied in the Red Sea. The role played by their divergent colouration in the settlement of juveniles among adults on the reef is interpreted as the intraspecific equivalent of character displacement.     

DARWIN'S Coral Reef Research - a Review and Tribute

Abstract. In rememberance of the death of CHARLES DARWIN 100 years ago, a review is given on his coral reef research from the point of view of present knowledge. Although during DARWIN'S time no one was aware of the changing level of the glacial sea or of the important function of the symbiotic zooxanthellae in the life of hermatypic corals, his observations and considerations on the ecology of corals and on the formation of coral reefs are relevant to this day. But of course his ideas need new causal interpretations. The origin of the different reef types can no longer be explained by subsidence alone, but by different modes biologists and geologists described during the following century. To summarize all the many existing theories, the all enclosing "theory of compensation" is put forward here in honour of this great man.     

Effects of Soft Corals on Scleractinian Coral Recruitment. II: Allelopathy, Spat Survivorship and Reef Community Structure

Abstract. Two field experiments were performed on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, at Orpheus Island and Lizard Island, respectively, to investigate the effects of allelopathic soft corals on survivorship and community structure of scleractinian coral spat. Ceramic tiles were placed around the allelopathic soft corals Sinularia flexibilis (Quoy & Gaimard 1833) and Sarcophyton glaucum (Quoy & Gaimard 1833), and controls. One control consisted of settlement plates surrounding a scleractinian coral (non‐allelopathic planktivore); another control had no adult soft or scleractinian coral present. The experimental soft corals affected the recruitment of various taxonomic groups of coral spat differentially, as evidenced by the diversity of coral spat settling in treatments and controls. At Orpheus Island (O.I., n = 1038 spat) and Lizard Island (L.I., n = 7032 spat), there were significant differences between recruitment success of the two dominant coral taxa, Pocilloporidae (O.I., 61.4 %; L.I., 20.5 %) and Acroporidae (O.I., 33.7 %; L.I., 53 %). Settlement plates exposed to Sinularia flexibilis at either site had the lowest proportion of acroporid recruits. Diversity indices (Shannon‐Wiener Indices) varied significantly between treatments at both Orpheus and Lizard Islands. This appears to be due to selective inhibition of acroporid spat by Sinularia flexibilis at both sites. Growth of coral spat was higher on settlement plates in the presence of Sarcophyton at Lizard Island. Settlement of most associated epibiota was generally inhibited under these conditions. Coral spat survivorship was highest in the presence of Sinularia at Orpheus ­Island; at Lizard Island, this was the case with the Sarcophyton treatment. Higher survivorship, and in some cases growth, of coral spat near soft corals was apparently due to reduced competition for space between spat and associated epibiota. This hypothesis is supported by the results of a sister experiment where a coating of Sinularia flexibilis extract on settlement tiles significantly decreased fouling by sessile epibiota. Soft corals have an allelopathic effect on recruitment and early development of scleractinian corals and, consequently, on early coral reef community succession.     

Tidally-induced clouds of suspended sediment connected to shallow-water coral reefs

The Bay of Banten, West Java, Indonesia represents a shallow coastal embayment harboring coral reefs subject to extremely turbid conditions. The sedimentary regime and flow structure of two contrasting coral reef islands in the embayment were investigated to identify the mechanisms responsible for mean and peak levels of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) around the reefs. Arrays of in situ calibrated optical backscatter (OBS) sensors were deployed across the reef slopes. Far field conditions were simultaneously monitored using an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and a conductivity temperature and depth (CTD) probe, equipped with an OBS sensor. In addition, hydrographic surveys were conducted using the ADCP attached to a small fishing boat, navigating transects perpendicular to the reef islands. The direct influence of river plumes was found to be insignificant. Waves act only in the uppermost few meters of the reef slopes, where coral growth is most abundant and little sediment is available for resuspension. Tidal currents are the primary cause of high turbidity, which was inferred from peaks in the diurnal and semidiurnal frequency bands of SSC spectra, and the large depths where the turbidity variation sometimes initiates. The entrained sediment disperses upward across the reef slopes, which is likely due to a secondary current associated with bending of the flow along the curved, hydraulically rough reef slopes, in weakly stratified ambient waters. Changes in sediment availability, variable critical shear stresses for erosion and deposition, and the formation and evanescence of island wakes may explain the high variability of SSC at the reef slopes.     

Evaluation of spatial correlation between nutrient exchange rates and benthic biota in a reef-flat ecosystem by GIS-assisted flow-tracking

A Geographic Information System (GIS)-aided flow-tracking technique was adopted to investigate nutrient exchange rates between specific benthic communities and overlying seawater in a fringing reef of Ishigaki Island, subtropical Northwestern Pacific. Net exchange rates of NO₃ ⁻, NO₂ ⁻, NH₄ ⁺, PO₄ ³⁻, Total-N and Total-P were estimated from concentration changes along the drogue trajectories, each of which was tracked by the Global Positioning System and plotted on a benthic map to determine the types of benthic habitat over which the drogue had passed. The observed nutrient exchange rates were compared between 5 typical benthic zones (branched-coral (B) and Heliopora communities (H), seaweed-reefrock zone (W), bare sand area (S), and seagrass meadow (G)). The dependence of nutrient exchange rates on nutrient concentrations, physical conditions and benthic characteristics was analyzed by multiple regression analysis with the aid of GIS. The spatial correlation between nutrient exchange rates and benthic characteristics was confirmed, especially for NO₃ ⁻ and PO₄ ³⁻, which were usually absorbed in hydrographically upstream zones B and W and regenerated in downstream zones H and G. NO₃ ⁻ uptake in zones B and W was concentration-dependent, and the uptake rate coefficient was estimated to be 0.58 and 0.67 m h⁻¹, respectively. Both nutrient uptake in zone W and regeneration in zone H were enhanced in summer. The net regeneration ratio of NO₃ ⁻/PO₄ ³⁻ in zone H in summer ranged 5.2 to 34 (mean, 17.4), which was somewhat higher than previously measured NO₃ ⁻/PO₄ ³⁻ for sediment pore waters around this zone (1.1–8.5). Nutrient exchanges in zone S were relatively small, indicating semi-closed nutrient cycling at the sediment-water interface of this zone. NH₄ ⁺ efflux from sediments was suggested in zone G. The data suggest that the spatial pattern of nutrient dynamics over the reef flat community was constrained by zonation of benthic biota, and that abiotic factors such as nutrient concentrations and flow rates, influenced nutrient exchange rates only in absorption-dominated communities such as zones B and W.     

南沙群岛珊瑚礁岩体结构特征及工程地质分带

珊瑚礁是发育于海洋环境之中、由造礁珊瑚和生物历经生物和地质作用形成的地质体，是一种特殊的岩土介质类型。在南沙群岛珊瑚礁体上，水动力作用和沉积类型、地形地貌都具有成带分布的特点，因而岩体结构和工程地质性质亦具有分带性。在珊瑚礁海洋水动力环境分带的基础上．研究了南沙群岛珊瑚礁的剖面结构、内部结构和浅地层结构特征以及工程地质分层和岩性，将珊瑚礁岩体结构划分为4种类型和5个工程地质相带，并对各分带的工程特性及适宜性进行了评价。