Coral cover and partial mortality on anthropogenically impacted coral reefs at Eilat, northern Red Sea

Jeffrey Wielgus; Nanette E. Chadwick-Furman; Zvy Dubinsky

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2003.08.008

Coral cover and partial mortality on anthropogenically impacted coral reefs at Eilat, northern Red Sea

Jeffrey Wielgus, Nanette E. Chadwick-Furman, Zvy Dubinsky

The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

A photographic analysis was conducted at five shallow reef sites (5-6 m) at Eilat (northern Red Sea) to study changes in live coral cover during a 2-year period. Logit regression analysis showed that levels of total oxidized nitrogen (TON; NO₂+NO₃) and the presence of SCUBA divers were significant explicative variables of coral partial mortality, while sedimentation rate was not significant. Sites exposed to mean TON levels above 0.4 μM TON showed significantly lower live stony coral cover and abundance per m², and higher partial mortality of coral colonies than sites exposed to lower TON. These findings may be useful in establishing limits for TON levels at Eilat, but must be interpreted with caution due to the complexity of nutrient dynamics in coral reefs, the uncertainty of the effects of nutrients on coral physiological processes, and the possibility of interactions among multiple coral stressors.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	248-253
Number of pages	6
Journal	Marine Pollution Bulletin
Volume	48
Issue number	3-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2003.08.008
State	Published - Feb 2004

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to anonymous reviewer for valuable suggestions on an earlier draft. This research was made possible by a Bar-Ilan University Presidential Scholarship awarded to J.W. and by the Red Sea Marine Peace Park Program, which is sponsored by USAID and NOAA.

Funding

We are grateful to anonymous reviewer for valuable suggestions on an earlier draft. This research was made possible by a Bar-Ilan University Presidential Scholarship awarded to J.W. and by the Red Sea Marine Peace Park Program, which is sponsored by USAID and NOAA.

Funders	Funder number
Red Sea Marine Peace
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
United States Agency for International Development

Keywords

Coral
Diving
Mortality
Nutrients
Pollution
Red Sea

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10.1016/j.marpolbul.2003.08.008

Cite this

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title = "Coral cover and partial mortality on anthropogenically impacted coral reefs at Eilat, northern Red Sea",

abstract = "A photographic analysis was conducted at five shallow reef sites (5-6 m) at Eilat (northern Red Sea) to study changes in live coral cover during a 2-year period. Logit regression analysis showed that levels of total oxidized nitrogen (TON; NO2+NO3) and the presence of SCUBA divers were significant explicative variables of coral partial mortality, while sedimentation rate was not significant. Sites exposed to mean TON levels above 0.4 μM TON showed significantly lower live stony coral cover and abundance per m2, and higher partial mortality of coral colonies than sites exposed to lower TON. These findings may be useful in establishing limits for TON levels at Eilat, but must be interpreted with caution due to the complexity of nutrient dynamics in coral reefs, the uncertainty of the effects of nutrients on coral physiological processes, and the possibility of interactions among multiple coral stressors.",

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AU - Dubinsky, Zvy

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KW - Coral

KW - Diving

KW - Mortality

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KW - Pollution

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Coral cover and partial mortality on anthropogenically impacted coral reefs at Eilat, northern Red Sea

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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