TITLE:
Resilience of a high latitude Red Sea corals to extreme temperature
AUTHORS:
Mohamed Zaki Moustafa, Zaki Daniel Moustafa, Mary Sue Moustafa
KEYWORDS:
Red Sea; Fringing Reef; Gulf of Suez; Coral Bleaching; Temperature Tolerance; Marginal Reef; Thermal Limits Omponent; Formatting; Style; Styling; Insert
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.3 No.3,
July
18,
2013
ABSTRACT: Our
research objective was to expand the very limited knowledgebase pertaining to the
ecology of fringing coral reefs in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. Specifically,
determine dominant coral species and investigate why this reef is capable of surviving
at such a high-latitude and extreme harsh environment.
Data collection included annual reef surveys, randomized quadrat sampling, five permanent video transects and in situ seawater temperature. Of the
known Gulf of Suez 35 taxa, only six (Acropora humilis, A. microclados, A.
hemprichii, Litophyton arboretum, Stylophora pistillata, Porites columna, and
P. plantulata), compose 94% of the reef's coral cover. Coral dominance across
species shifted drastically during the study period. However, the six coral
dominance remained unchanged, while some decreased others increased. These six
coral taxa regularly experience daily changes in seawater temperature
and seasonal variations that exceed These extreme temperatures variation
and the fact that only six coral taxa dominance remained unchanged, suggest
that these corals may have developed a mechanism to cope with extreme seawater
temperatures as evidenced by their continued growth and survival over the study
period. We speculate that species dominance shift occurred largely as a result
of a local oil spill rather than exposure to extreme temperatures. Further
scrutiny of these species and the mechanisms by which they are able to thrive
is recommended, as they hold the potential to benefit other coral communities
as a resilient transplant species and model for understanding coral
survivability in extreme environmental conditions.