Homogeneity of coral reef communities across 8 degrees of latitude in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea

Roberts, May B., Jones, Geoffrey P., McCormick, Mark I., Munday, Philip L., Neale, Stephen, Thorrold, Simon, Robitzch, Vanessa S.N., and Berumen, Michael L. (2016) Homogeneity of coral reef communities across 8 degrees of latitude in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 105 (2). pp. 558-565.

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Abstract

Coral reef communities between 26.8°N and 18.6°N latitude in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea were surveyed to provide baseline data and an assessment of fine-scale biogeography of communities in this region. Forty reefs along 1100 km of coastline were surveyed using depth-stratified visual transects of fish and benthic communities. Fish abundance and benthic cover data were analyzed using multivariate approaches to investigate whether coral reef communities differed with latitude. A total of 215 fish species and 90 benthic categories were recorded on the surveys. There were no significant differences among locations in fish abundance, species richness, or among several diversity indices. Despite known environmental gradients within the Red Sea, the communities remained surprisingly similar. The communities do, however, exhibit subtle changes across this span of reefs that likely reflect the constrained distributions of several species of reef fish and benthic fauna.

Item ID: 43040
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1879-3363
Keywords: benthic cover; biogeography; coral reef fishes; dissimilarity; Red Sea
Funders: KAUST
Projects and Grants: KAUST URF/1/1389-01-01, WHOI-KAUST USA-00002, WHOI-KAUST KSA-00011
Date Deposited: 20 Mar 2016 23:45
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410102 Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation @ 50%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960399 Climate and Climate Change not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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