Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
How Many Damaged Corals in Red Sea Reef Systems? A Quantitative Survey
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1991
Publication Title
Hydrobiologia
Keywords
Red Sea, Corals, Damage, Algal overgrowth, Conservation
ISSN
0018-8158
Volume
216/217
Issue/No.
1
First Page
249
Last Page
256
Abstract
Quantitative coral damage assessment by means of line transects was performed in several northern Red Sea coral reef sites in Israel (Eilat) and Egypt (Hurghada area). Reefs with high and low visitor frequency were compared. For both reef systems, breakage was found to be the most common damage category, being significantly higher on highly frequented reefs. Also, all observed damage (breakage, tissue loss, algal overgrowth) was most frequent within the first ten meters depth. A significant difference in the amount of corals overgrown by algae was found on the reefs near Hurghada as compared to all other reefs. Algal overgrowth was correlated with the occurrence of tissue loss and breakage, being considered as a consequence of pollution or the former damage types. In all cases of damage, Acropora was the most frequently affected genus, while Millepora dichotoma was the most affected species.
NSUWorks Citation
Bernhard Riegl and Branko Velimirov. 1991. How Many Damaged Corals in Red Sea Reef Systems? A Quantitative Survey .Hydrobiologia , (1) : 249 -256. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/234.
ORCID ID
0000-0002-6003-9324
ResearcherID
F-8807-2011
DOI
10.1007/BF00026471
Comments
©1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers