Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

A detailed ecological study was conducted for three years (2001-03) on a 5 km stretch of well-developed coral reeffacing an industrial site in the southernmost section of the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. The degreeof modification associated with the prevailing ecological factors wa...

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Main Authors: Mohammad I. Badran, Said A. Damhoureyeh, Mohammad K. Al-Zibdah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences 2007-12-01
Series:Oceanologia
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.iopan.gda.pl/oceanologia/49_4.html#A7
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author Mohammad I. Badran
Said A. Damhoureyeh
Mohammad K. Al-Zibdah
author_facet Mohammad I. Badran
Said A. Damhoureyeh
Mohammad K. Al-Zibdah
author_sort Mohammad I. Badran
collection DOAJ
description A detailed ecological study was conducted for three years (2001-03) on a 5 km stretch of well-developed coral reeffacing an industrial site in the southernmost section of the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. The degreeof modification associated with the prevailing ecological factors was assessed with respect to species diversity and abundanceof the major groups of the macrobenthic community: corals, bivalves, hydrozoans, echinoderms, sponges and macroalgae. Three locations of two depths each - 6 and 12 m - were selected and surveyed using the visual census point-intercept method. The actual area of the survey covered about 2250 m<sup>2</sup>.<br> Macrobenthic communities occurring close to the industrial jetty were characterized by low diversity and the obvious dominance of soft coral (16-30% cover). In the deep transects (12 m) hard coral cover was higher than that in the shallow transects (30-55%). Correlation analyses indicated that species richness increased with increasing distance from the industrial jetty. Species richness of other macrobenthos was also higher as depth increased. The results revealed that the distribution and abundance of coral, echinoderms, hydrozoans and macroalgae were correlated with the relative importance of bottom modification within the various locations in the entire study area. However, no distinct influence of location or depth on the identities of most macrobenthic species was indicated.
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spelling doaj-art-fe064b69ec4b4c2a9d4db4472a3880142025-08-20T03:48:42ZengInstitute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of SciencesOceanologia0078-32342007-12-01494565578Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red SeaMohammad I. BadranSaid A. DamhoureyehMohammad K. Al-ZibdahA detailed ecological study was conducted for three years (2001-03) on a 5 km stretch of well-developed coral reeffacing an industrial site in the southernmost section of the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. The degreeof modification associated with the prevailing ecological factors was assessed with respect to species diversity and abundanceof the major groups of the macrobenthic community: corals, bivalves, hydrozoans, echinoderms, sponges and macroalgae. Three locations of two depths each - 6 and 12 m - were selected and surveyed using the visual census point-intercept method. The actual area of the survey covered about 2250 m<sup>2</sup>.<br> Macrobenthic communities occurring close to the industrial jetty were characterized by low diversity and the obvious dominance of soft coral (16-30% cover). In the deep transects (12 m) hard coral cover was higher than that in the shallow transects (30-55%). Correlation analyses indicated that species richness increased with increasing distance from the industrial jetty. Species richness of other macrobenthos was also higher as depth increased. The results revealed that the distribution and abundance of coral, echinoderms, hydrozoans and macroalgae were correlated with the relative importance of bottom modification within the various locations in the entire study area. However, no distinct influence of location or depth on the identities of most macrobenthic species was indicated.http://www.iopan.gda.pl/oceanologia/49_4.html#A7Macrobenthoscoral reefGulf of AqabaRed Sea
spellingShingle Mohammad I. Badran
Said A. Damhoureyeh
Mohammad K. Al-Zibdah
Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
Oceanologia
Macrobenthos
coral reef
Gulf of Aqaba
Red Sea
title Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_full Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_fullStr Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_full_unstemmed Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_short Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_sort temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the gulf of aqaba red sea
topic Macrobenthos
coral reef
Gulf of Aqaba
Red Sea
url http://www.iopan.gda.pl/oceanologia/49_4.html#A7
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