Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Ecological Parameters of Dynamited Reefs in the Northern Red Sea and their Relevance to Reef Rehabilitation

ORCID

0000-0002-6003-9324

ResearcherID

F-8807-2011

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Marine Pollution Bulletin

ISSN

0025-326X

Publication Date

12-1999

Abstract

Dynamite damage was investigated on 60 reefs in the Egyptian Red Sea. 65% of the investigated reefs had signs of dynamite damage, mostly in leeward areas (58%). Significant changes in coral and fish community composition within dynamited sites were observed. Coral cover decreased, the amount of bare substratum and rubble increased, fish communities in dynamited areas suffered a decrease in species richness and abundance. Due to a stable pattern of coral community differentiation on northern Red Sea reefs (windward Acropora, leeward Porites) most damage is on near-climax Porites reef slopes or Porites carpets. Natural regeneration of such communities is likely to be very slow, possibly taking several hundred years. Rehabilitation would be difficult since coral transplants would have to mimic the previously existing community.

DOI

10.1016/S0025-326X(99)00104-6

Volume

37

Issue

8-12

First Page

488

Last Page

498

Comments

©1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Additional Comments

Austrian Science Foundation grant #s: P10715-GEO, P13165-GEO

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