Scleractinian coral communities of Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf

Yamin Pouryousef; Jafar Seyfabadi; Hamid Rezai; Alireza Mahvari; Mohammad Ali Jafari

doi:10.1007/s13131-022-2048-7

Volume 41 Issue 12

Dec. 2022

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Yamin Pouryousef, Jafar Seyfabadi, Hamid Rezai, Alireza Mahvari, Mohammad Ali Jafari. Scleractinian coral communities of Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2022, 41(12): 48-57. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2048-7

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Yamin Pouryousef, Jafar Seyfabadi, Hamid Rezai, Alireza Mahvari, Mohammad Ali Jafari. Scleractinian coral communities of Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2022, 41(12): 48-57. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2048-7

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Scleractinian coral communities of Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf

doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2048-7

1.
Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor 46417, Iran
2.
Darya Negar Pars Consulting Engineers, Tehran 14669, Iran
3.
Department of Environment Hormozgan Provincial Directorate, Bandar Abbas 79168, Iran

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: seyfabadi@modares.ac.ir, jseyfabadi@gmail.com
Received Date: 2021-06-30
Accepted Date: 2022-04-25

Available Online: 2022-08-31

Publish Date: 2022-12-30

Abstract

Abstract

The abundance and health of scleractinian coral communities of Hormuz Island were investigated. For this purpose, we employed 20 m line intercept transects—12 in the intertidal zone and 15 subtidally to evaluate coral cover and community composition. The estimated dead coral coverage was 6.21%±0.81%, while live coral coverage was 16.93%±1.81%, considered as very poor. Totally, 12 genera were recorded, of which Porites with 11.9%±1.4% live cover was the dominant, while Goniopora had the least cover (0.07%±0.08%). Based on Mann-Whitney U-test, live coral coverage, dead coral coverage, algal coverage, cover of other benthic organisms and abiotic components showed significant univariate differences between zones (p<0.05). The Spearman correlation test between the abundance of biotic and abiotic components indicated significant negative correlation of live coral and sand with zoantharian and significant positive correlation of algae and other benthic organisms with rubble. The reef health indices used for the corals indicated that, in general, the environmental conditions were not suitable, which could be attributed to both natural and anthropogenic factors, the most important of which was zoantharian’ overgrowth on the scleractinian corals in this region.
- scleractinian corals,
- zoantharian,
- reef health indices,
- Hormuz Island,
- Persian Gulf

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