Species Diversity and Distribution of Scleractinian Coral at Daao

Bay, Shenzhen

Fei Tong, Lu Zhang, Pimao Chen

and Wenjin Chen

South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute Shenzhen test base. South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese

Academy of Fishery Sciences. Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of South China Sea Fishery Resources and

Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R. Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510300, China

Email: chenpm@scsfri.ac.cn

Keywords: Scleractinian, species diversity, distribution

Abstract: Species diversity and distribution status of the scleractinian were surveyed by Line Intercept Transect

method at Daao Bay in the east Shenzhen in 2017. Through the image survey data and sample analysis to

filed survey, this survey got 13 kinds of scleractinian coral, which the main dominant species is Platygyra

yaeyamaensis. Statistical analysis showed that Daao Bay scleractinian coral coverage rate was 9.12 %, the

Shannon-wiener diversity index, Simpson’s diversity index and Margarlef species richness index were

2.251 nit, 1.754 and 0.856, respectively. The scleractinian coral coverage rate declined seriously compared

to 2007. The coral communities were experiencing degradation. Fortunately, there was 0 bleaching or dead

scleractinian coral coverage found in this vessel. This area was disturbed highly by human activities, which

may alter the natural disturbance regimes of coral reefs by transforming pulse events into persistent

disturbance or even chronic stress, by introducing new disturbance, or by suppressing or removing

disturbance. It should strengthen monitor coral reef and its ecosystem in this area for better protecting

increasingly recession coral reef resources.

1 INTRODUCTION

Coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds are

important three typical marine ecosystems, with

high biodiversity and primary productivity

(Muruganantham et al., 2017; Halik and Verweij,

2017;

De et al.2018), providing rich food and

habitats for marine life (Roelfsema et al., 2018; Eyal

et al., 2015). It also provides mankind with a great

deal of material products and extremely high

aesthetic value (Moberg and Folke 1999). But the

community structure, composition and ecosystem

functioning of coral reefs have been extensive

changed by the human’s disturbances

(Ferrigno et

al., 2016). Coral is sensitive to environmental

changes (

Holden and Ledrew 2002). When it suffers

external environmental pressure beyond physical

tolerance, it will release the symbiotic zooxanthellae,

resulting in coral bleaching (Glynn 1993). Facing

the human-dominated world, ecologists are now

reconsidering the role of disturbance for coral reef

ecosystem. Human activities alter the natural

disturbance regimes of coral reefs by transforming

pulse events into persistent disturbance or even

chronic stress, by introducing new disturbance, or by

suppressing or removing disturbance. Which has

caused widespread concern around the world

(Nyström et al., 2000 . The coral reef monitoring

network has been established worldwide to monitor

the health status of coral reef ecosystems which

would contribute to prevent the degradation of

valuable coral reef resources (Tun and Wilkinson

2004). Understanding the species distribution and

diversity of corals is an important part of coral

conservation, Mebrahtu investigated variation in

scleractinian coral Richness and community

diversity in the Western Indian Ocean on different

spatial scales to understand how diversity is

organized is essential to inference about appropriate

scales for natural resource research and management

(Ateweberhan and Mcclanahan 2016). Hector

considered sampling scale and lack of attention to

taxa other than scleractinian corals have limited the

capacity to protect coral reefs and coral communities

Tong, F., Zhang, L., Chen, P. and Chen, W.

Species Diversity and Distribution of Scleractinian Coral at Daao Bay, Shenzhen.

In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Environment and Geoscience (IWEG 2018), pages 50-55

ISBN: 978-989-758-342-1

(Guevara and Breedy 2004). Alessandro Cau using a

combination of multivariate statistical analyses

reveal that environmental and bathymetric factors

were important drivers of the observed patterns of

coral biodiversity (Cau et al., 2017). Oktiyas

Muzaky Luthfi use Line Intercept Transect to assess

the condition and distribution of stony corals at

Karang Pakiman Reef, Bawean Islands

(Luthfi and

Anugrah 2017). Samantha Howlett data on live coral

cover, coral genus, diversity, and coral colony

structure type to compared to give an indication of

reef quality between habitats (Howlett et al., 2016).

Daao Bay was a good habitat for scleractinian

corals before. As the economy developed rapidly in

recent years, many real estate and tourism projects

had been developed in the near shore. The

distribution and health status of coral resources is

facing disturbance, this study using Line Intercept

Transect to study the diversity, distribution and

abundance of Scleractinian coral in Daao Bay.

Which could assess the health condition of coral reef

as a basic ecosystems for reference conservation.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Research Area

The research was conducted along the Daao Bay,

Shenzhen in November 2017. Which located at the

Daao Bay Coast (114°28′02.10″E, 22°33′06.21″N

~114°27 ' 58.52 "E, 22°33 ' 10.59" N) (Fig. 1). The

scleractinian coral species distribution, health and

sediment conditions were evaluated in this coral reef

area. The survey water bottom sea temperature was

22.5℃, transparency was 2.5 m and salinity was

32.2‰. With handheld GPS Positioning System

(78s, Garmin, American) determines the exact

position in this investigation. Investigate sea water

depth was range of 3-10 meters.

Figure 1: Scleractinian coral survey stations

2.2 Survey Methods

In this area, the survey and sampling of coral reefs

are an international commonly used Line Intercept

Transect (Luthfi and Anugrah 2017, Amin, 2017,

Facon et al., 2016). Fifty meter long transect were

laid in this zonation and parallels to the shoreline,

date and samples were got by SCUBA diver. There

were three transect laid totally, and the distances

between each transect between 10 m. Diver swarm

along the sampling belt constant speed and recorded

a video perpendicularly to the seabed surface

underwater. The scleractinian species on each

section are photographed, to assist in the

identification of coral species, the more difficult to

identify the coral, to collect its skeleton from living

coral colonies and fixed in the alcohol for further

classification and identification in the laboratory.

Place square blocks of 0.5 m × 0.5 m equidistantly

on the spline (50 sample frames per sample strip, 1

m interval); Take vertical photographs of each

sample to further interpret the coral community

information. The video data is interpreted by

computer, and each sampling band was divided

evenly into 50 mark points. Measuring the points of

interest below the sample frame. The species and

number of scleractinian, rock, rubble, sand, sea

urchin and other were recorded, and the coverage,

distribution characteristics and health status of the

reef coral reefs are investigated by statistical

analysis. Each point was counted for the number of

points where the substrate was scleractinian coral

and the type of the corresponding coral. The ratio of

the coral cover point to the total number of points in

each sample was calculated, i.e. the coverage rate of

scleractinian corals; the occurrence of each coral

was counted. The scleractinian coral frequency is the

number of times this category appears in all sample

frames. Furthermore, the ratio of dead coral and

living coral cover was calculated with categories (1)

Healthy, if percent living to dead coral > 2:1, (2).

Fair/moderate, if between 2:1 and 1:2, (3) Unhealthy,

if live to dead coral < 1:2) (Reza and

Sancayaningsih 2015).

In this study, we refer to the morphological

classification of scleractinian species according to

the “Chinese Animal Records” volume 23 by Zhou

Renlin (Zhou R 2011) and “Corals of The World”

volume 1.2 and 3 by Veron (Veron 2000).

Species Diversity and Distribution of Scleractinian Coral at Daao Bay, Shenzhen

2.3 Data Analysis

Data was compiled and collated using MS.

Excel and SPSS 17.0. Analysis the diversity,

distribution characteristics and health status of

the s

cleractinian coral by Shannon-wiener index,

Simpson’s diversity index, Margarlef species

richness index, and Pielou index. We surveyed

the normal coral, dead and blanching coral

cover degree to assess the scleractinian corals

healthy condition at the same time. The

dominant s

cleractinian coral species in this area

was sorted by the important values of

scleractinian corals (importance value, IV). The

formulas were as follows:

H=

∑

𝑝



log



𝑝







(1)

D=1-



𝑝









(2)

M=(S-1)/log

(3)

J=𝐻log



𝑆

⁄

(4)

RA=The individuals of this scleractinian species / The

individuals of all scleractinian species

(5)

RF=Frequency of this scleractinian species /Total frequency

of all scleractinian species

(6)

RC=The coverage area of this species of scleractinian /Total coverage

area of all species of scleractinian

(7)

IV= RA + RF + RC

(8)

Where H is the scleractinian coral Shannon-

wiener Diversity index; p

is the proportion of

individuals belonging to species i in all individuals

(i.e., the ratio of species i coverage to total live

scleractinian coral coverage); D is the scleractinian

coral Simpson’s diversity index; M is the

scleractinian coral Margarlef species richness index;

N is the total scleractinian coral individual number

(i.e., total live scleractinian coral coverage); J is the

scleractinian coral Pielou index; S is total coral

species number; RA is the relative individuals

number of scleractinian coral; RF is relative

frequency of scleractinian corals; RC for relative

coverage rate; IV The is an important value for

scleractinian corals.

In this study, we classified the scleractinian

corals frequency into A to E 5 grades. Which the

scleractinian coral frequency between 1% and 20%

is zoned A level; Which the scleractinian coral

frequency between 20% and 40% is zoned B level;

Which the scleractinian coral frequency between 40%

and 60% is zoned C level; Which the scleractinian

coral frequency between 60% and 80% is zoned D

level; Which the scleractinian coral frequency

between 80% and 100% is zoned E level.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Daao Bay Reef Coral Species

Composition

A total of 4 families, 8 genera, 13 species

scleractinian coral were recorded in this vessel,

based on coral morphology identification. The

Important Values (IV) sort results (table 1) indicates

that the main advantages of Daao Bay scleractinian

coral was Platygyra yaeyamaensis (IV =0.725), next

is porites lobate (IV =0.453). We divided

scleractinian coral into leaf-like corals, dendritic

corals and clumps coral according to the form. The

statistical results showed that there were 9 species

leaf-like coral, 2 species dendritic coral, 2 species

clumps coral in this area. The clumps coral take the

highest proportion, which is similar to the Daya Bay

nearly. Researches shows that clumps coral can

adapt the low temperature, suspended sediments,

environmental pollution etc. marine environment

changes better. As the latitude rises, the lower water

temperature, coral skeleton is also closer to the

clumps species (Riegl and Purkis 2009).

Figure 2: Frequency distribution of Scleractinian corals at

Daao Bay

IWEG 2018 - International Workshop on Environment and Geoscience

Table 1: Sorted importance value of scleractinian corals at Daao Bay

Rank Species P

RF RA RC IV

1 Platygyra yaeyamaensis 0.320 0.229 0.234 0.262 0.725

2 Porites lobata 0.200 0.143 0.106 0.203 0.453

3 Favites pentagona 0.160 0.114 0.149 0.059 0.322

4 Plesiastrea versipora 0.160 0.114 0.128 0.026 0.268

5 Platygyra acuta 0.120 0.086 0.106 0.043 0.235

6 Porites lutea 0.120 0.086 0.085 0.059 0.230

7 Dipsastrea rotumana 0.080 0.057 0.043 0.072 0.172

8 Pavona decussata 0.040 0.029 0.021 0.105 0.155

9 Pavona minuta 0.040 0.029 0.043 0.043 0.114

10 Acropora digitigera 0.040 0.029 0.021 0.059 0.109

11 Acropora robusta 0.040 0.029 0.021 0.056 0.106

12 Goniastrea retiformis 0.040 0.029 0.021 0.010 0.060

13 Favites abdita 0.040 0.029 0.021 0.003 0.053

3.2 Daao Bay Reef Coral Frequency

Distribution

The scleractinian coral distribution frequency

diagram (Figure 2) shows that 84.62% scleractinian

coral appears low frequency at Daao Bay sea area,

belongs to the A level; There were 15.38

% scleractinian coral species in B level; There is no

scleractinian coral species in C,D,E level. The five

frequency-level relationships was A>B>C=D=E.

The A level is far higher than the other levels. The

level C, D and E were 0 in this result. It indicate that

most of the species in this area is low frequency

distributing, even if the Platygyra yaeyamaensis,

which is frequency is only 32%. The 84.62% species

is fragmentary distribution around. The light,

transparency and other environment condition

determine the distribution characteristic. This area

was carrying out a reef restoration work. Reef

restoration is a novel ecological discipline that has

been receiving increasing attention over the past two

decades, though many of its theoretical and practical

aspects have yet to be elucidated (Rinkevich B

2015). It might be change the frequency distribution

and structure of community directly; the frequency

distribution would provide a simple parameter to get

the structure of community in the future. Recreation

of suitable condition for native communties’

development could alleviate ecological barriers to

reef regeneration (Horoszowski-Fridman and

Rinkevich 2017). The sparse planting model could

be more suitable in this area in the restoration works

compare to the intensive planting.

3.3 Reef Coral Diversity

This survey area scleractinian Coral Shannon-wiener

diversity index, Simpson’s diversity index and

Margarlef species richness index were 2.251 nit,

1.754 and 0.856, respectively. The Daao Bay coral

Shannon-wiener diversity index was higher than the

Daya bay (Shannon-wiener diversity index=1.754

nit). The scleractinian Coral Pielou index was 0.608

at Daao bay, higher than the Daya bay 0.305. This

survey had been recorded in total of 30 scleractinian

coral species, which is similar to that of coral reefs

in neighboring Daya bay waters (15 species), and

more than the Dongshan sea area in Fujian province

(5 species).

3.4 Bottom Coverage

The percent cover at a given station consists of

the mean of its three transects reef coral coverage of

the 2017 in the survey area is 9.12%, and the year of

Daao Bay Reef Coral coverage average 34.4% in

2007 (Jia C et al., 2008). The coral reef coverage in

Daao Bay has seriously declined recent 10 years. As

to this survey the highest coverage in this sea area

was rock (79.32%), and the sand, rubble, sea urchins,

other organisms were 6.38 %, 3.40 %, 1.78 %,

0.16 %, respectively. The scleractinian coral was

mainly distributed in the rock bottom and a small

amount of rock and gravel mixed bottom. Coral

bleaching considered an important index for

ecosystem health evaluating (Glynn 1993; Awak et

al., 2016). The survey results showed there were 0

deaths or bleaching corals were found in the survey

area. The ratio of living coral to dead coral cover

percent > 2:1, which indicating that the coral reefs in

Species Diversity and Distribution of Scleractinian Coral at Daao Bay, Shenzhen

the region are in good health condition recently. The

distribution of coral reef coverage shows that the

coverage of coral reefs in the Daao Bay was

heterogeneous, and the coverage interlaced high-low.

Sea urchins are important grazers and influence Reef

development in the eastern tropical Pacific

(Cabanillasterán et al., 2016). Researches show that,

sea urchins preferential resource appeared to be

benthic algal and turf, But if those were not

available, it feeds on other organisms, such as the

corals Pavona clavus, Pocillopora spp. and Porites

lobate (Reaka-Kudla et al., 1996). The sea urchin

coverage rate in this area was 1.78%. Because of the

complex dynamic balance of grazing animals

between sea urchins with coral reef

(Mcclanahan

and Shafir 1990, Nash et al., 2016). The further

tracking is needed to study the relationship between

sea urchins and coral reefs to better understand the

health of coral reef ecosystems in the region.

Figure 3. Coverage rates of different survey sample

substrates. (Note: a. HC: Hard Coral, RC: Rock, RB:

Rubble, SD: sand, SU: Sea urchin, OT: other. Error bars

correspond to standard deviation value.

)

4 CONCLUSION

The present survey results showed that the average

coverage of the scleractinian coral was 9.12% in the

Daao Bay, and the Shannon-wiener diversity index

was 2.25 nit, which declined seriously compared to

2007. Because of the incomplete sampling and the

drawback by morphological identification, there

might be some cryptic species that have not been

identified; the next stage will use molecular

biological means to classify the species diversity of

the coral (Wang et al., 2018;Daniel and Sergej, 2017;

Xin et al., 2017). Each zonation has its own pattern

in term of coverage and composition of corals life

form this pattern of coral distribution and abundance

with depth suggests this each coral species could

have an optimal depth (Hoogenboom et al., 2009).

For reasons such as transparency, light et al., the

vertical distribution of reef coral in this area was not

obvious (Yeung et al., 2014), and its main

distribution is in the depth of 3-10 m. The dominant

species of reef coral communities in this area was

mainly clumps of coral, followed by leaf-like corals.

Coral reef ecosystem is a marine ecosystem with

high productivity and diverse biodiversity, but also a

low resistance, very fragile ecosystem, as a

consequence of increasing human pressure, coastal

Ecosystems are facing a wide range of threats, such

as resource exploitation and habitat modification

(Rossi S 2013). Although there was no recent death

or blanching scleractinian coral have been found in

the survey area, but the coverage and diversity of

species were lower than historical data. The survey

sea area is close to human living quarters, coral reef

ecosystems are very easy to interfere with human

activities (Graham et al., 2017). Therefore, we

should strengthen the Daao Bay ecosystem

surveillance to protect the degenerative coastal coral

reef resources.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was jointly supported by Shenzhen

science and technology innovation project

(JCYJ20160331141759795).

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Species Diversity and Distribution of Scleractinian Coral at Daao Bay, Shenzhen