Coral growth patterns in recruit, juvenile and adult generations on shallow, fringing reefs in the Gulf of Thailand
(2024) BION02 20232Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- The Gulf of Thailand is a region with a relatively high coral cover, despite having many stressors on the reef such as the bi-annual monsoon and high temperatures. Assessing coral reefs in this area can provide insight into how these reefs maintain their coral cover and seem to replenish the reef, increasing resilience to future extreme events. This study assesses the conditions on the reef flat and crest of the local shallow reefs in Koh Pha Ngan, focusing on coral recruits, juveniles and adults to provide a multi-generational overview of the current and future state of the reef. Comparison between the reef flat and crest resulted in a higher diversity and coral abundance of coral genera on the reef crest. Looking at specific coral... (More)
- The Gulf of Thailand is a region with a relatively high coral cover, despite having many stressors on the reef such as the bi-annual monsoon and high temperatures. Assessing coral reefs in this area can provide insight into how these reefs maintain their coral cover and seem to replenish the reef, increasing resilience to future extreme events. This study assesses the conditions on the reef flat and crest of the local shallow reefs in Koh Pha Ngan, focusing on coral recruits, juveniles and adults to provide a multi-generational overview of the current and future state of the reef. Comparison between the reef flat and crest resulted in a higher diversity and coral abundance of coral genera on the reef crest. Looking at specific coral generations, adult corals had the highest abundance and healthy and partially bleached corals but had a low evenness in distribution of coral genera compared to those of coral recruit and juveniles. The onset of a coral’s life cycle starts with coral spawning, which was recorded i (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- The success of coral generations on shallow reefs
Coral reefs are under more and more stress, with environmental conditions e.g. depth and temperature, causing the ecosystem to change. In assessing the reef’s conditions and responses to these changes, adult corals, which contribute largely to the existing structure of the reef, are often focused on thereby leaving aside other coral generations. These are, however, important for replenishing and maintaining the reef in the future. This study, therefore, includes varying depth, growth forms and adult (3), juvenile (2) and recruit (1) coral age groups to provide a multi-generational reef assessment on shallow reefs on Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand.
A variety of 4 surveys counting, measuring... (More) - The success of coral generations on shallow reefs
Coral reefs are under more and more stress, with environmental conditions e.g. depth and temperature, causing the ecosystem to change. In assessing the reef’s conditions and responses to these changes, adult corals, which contribute largely to the existing structure of the reef, are often focused on thereby leaving aside other coral generations. These are, however, important for replenishing and maintaining the reef in the future. This study, therefore, includes varying depth, growth forms and adult (3), juvenile (2) and recruit (1) coral age groups to provide a multi-generational reef assessment on shallow reefs on Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand.
A variety of 4 surveys counting, measuring and identifying corals and their age, growth form and health condition was carried out on two different depths (3 and 5 meters) over a period of 7 months. Temperature, bleaching (a coral’s response to heat stress) and substrate were also measured.
The younger coral generations (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9175893
- author
- Kroon, Ayla
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BION02 20232
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9175893
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-02 16:43:51
- date last changed
- 2024-10-02 16:43:51
@misc{9175893,
abstract = {{The Gulf of Thailand is a region with a relatively high coral cover, despite having many stressors on the reef such as the bi-annual monsoon and high temperatures. Assessing coral reefs in this area can provide insight into how these reefs maintain their coral cover and seem to replenish the reef, increasing resilience to future extreme events. This study assesses the conditions on the reef flat and crest of the local shallow reefs in Koh Pha Ngan, focusing on coral recruits, juveniles and adults to provide a multi-generational overview of the current and future state of the reef. Comparison between the reef flat and crest resulted in a higher diversity and coral abundance of coral genera on the reef crest. Looking at specific coral generations, adult corals had the highest abundance and healthy and partially bleached corals but had a low evenness in distribution of coral genera compared to those of coral recruit and juveniles. The onset of a coral’s life cycle starts with coral spawning, which was recorded i}},
author = {{Kroon, Ayla}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Coral growth patterns in recruit, juvenile and adult generations on shallow, fringing reefs in the Gulf of Thailand}},
year = {{2024}},
}