Community structure and species diversity of hermatypic corals at Eilat, Red Sea

This study investigates the community structure of reefbulding corals in terms of species composition, zonation and diversity patterns, as well as possible factors affecting the observed distributions. The study was carried out by a series of line transects run underwater with SCUBA apparatus from the reef flat to a depth of 30 m. The reefs of Eilat are of the fringing type, with seleractinian corals as the most important hermatypic organisms. The different zones of the reef are analyzed on the basis of topographical characteristics of the reef, as well as from the numerical data on abundance and living coverage, using cluster analysis of all transects surveyed. The present knowledge concerning species diversity is reviewed and analyzed in the context of hermatypic coral data. Three different diversity indices (the species count, Simpson's index and Shannon and Weaver's index) were calculated for estimating the diversity obtained on different zones of the reef. It was found that there is a successive increase in diversity of hermatypic corals from shallow water to a depth of 30 m. Species diversity and living voverage of corals were significantly greater in steeper zones as compared to flatter zones of the reef. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is the accumulation of sediments in the flat zones. It is proposed that the severe and umpredictable nature of the reef flat may account for low abundance and living coverage of corals. It is also proposed that deep-water species which do not invade shallow water are species which have developed high specialization to their local environment. The idea that light intensity is a significant factor in calcium-carbonate deposition by scleractinian corals is supported by field measurements of individual colonies at different depths.

[1]  R. P. McIntosh.  An Index of Diversity and the Relation of Certain Concepts to Diversity , 1967 .

[2]  C. Monk,et al.  Species Diversity of a Stratified Oak‐Hickory Community , 1969 .

[3]  E. Pianka.  On Lizard Species Diversity: North American Flatland Deserts , 1967 .

[4]  E. C. Pielou,et al.  Species-diversity and pattern-diversity in the study of ecological succession. , 1966, Journal of theoretical biology.

[5]  D. Janzen.  Why Mountain Passes are Higher in the Tropics , 1967, The American Naturalist.

[6]  P. Greig-Smith,et al.  QUANTITATIVE PLANT ECOLOGY , 1959 .

[7]  D. Culver,et al.  Diversity in Terrestrial Cave Communities , 1969 .

[8]  H. Odum,et al.  Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll , 1955 .

[9]  C. Monk.  Tree Species Diversity in the Eastern Deciduous Forest with Particular Reference to North Central Florida , 1967, The American Naturalist.

[10]  E. Pianka.  Latitudinal Gradients in Species Diversity: A Review of Concepts , 1966, The American Naturalist.

[11]  A. Sheldon.  Species Diversity and Longitudinal Succession in Stream Fishes , 1968 .

[12]  R. Sokal,et al.  Principles of numerical taxonomy , 1965 .

[13]  M. C. Whiteside,et al.  Species Diversity in Chydorid (Cladocera) Communities , 1967 .

[14]  W. Berger,et al.  Diversity of Planktonic Foraminifera in Deep-Sea Sediments , 1970, Science.

[15]  N. Hairston.  Species Abundance and Community Organization , 1959 .

[16]  A. Hasler,et al.  Species Diversity in Lacustrine Phytoplankton. I. The Components of the Index of Diversity from Shannon's Formula , 1969, The American Naturalist.

[17]  William H. Marshall,et al.  Experimental Germination of Seed and Establishment of Seedlings of Phragmities Communis , 1960 .

[18]  D. W. Boyd,et al.  Shallow-Water Geology and Environments of Alacran Reef Complex, Campeche Bank, Mexico , 1962 .

[19]  H. L. Sanders,et al.  Marine Benthic Diversity: A Comparative Study , 1968, The American Naturalist.

[20]  R. Fisher,et al.  The Relation Between the Number of Species and the Number of Individuals in a Random Sample of an Animal Population , 1943 .

[21]  L. Slobodkin.  Growth and regulation of animal populations , 1962 .

[22]  E. C. Pielou.  An introduction to mathematical ecology , 1970 .

[23]  M. Lloyd,et al.  A Table for Calculating the `Equitability' Component of Species Diversity , 1964 .

[24]  C. Goulden.  Developmental phases of the biocoenosis. , 1969, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  R. H. Whittaker,et al.  Estimation of Net Primary Production of Forest and Shrub Communities , 1961 .

[26]  J. Wilhm.  Use of Biomass Units in Shannon's Formula , 1968 .

[27]  E. C. Pielou.  The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections , 1966 .

[28]  J. Wells.  Chapter 20: Coral Reefs , 1957 .

[29]  R. Macarthur,et al.  Environmental Factors Affecting Bird Species Diversity , 1964, The American Naturalist.

[30]  E. C. Pielou.  Shannon's Formula as a Measure of Specific Diversity: Its Use and Misuse , 1966, The American Naturalist.

[31]  James R. Karr,et al.  On the Calculation of Information-theoretical Measures of Diversity , 1968 .

[32]  T. Goreau.  Problems of growth and calcium deposition in reef corals , 1961 .

[33]  T. Goreau.  The Ecology of Jamaican Coral Reefs I. Species Composition and Zonation , 1959 .

[34]  F. W. Preston.  The Commonness, And Rarity, of Species , 1948 .

[35]  T. Goreau.  CALCIUM CARBONATE DEPOSITION BY CORALLINE ALGAE AND CORALS IN RELATION TO THEIR ROLES AS REEF‐BUILDERS , 1963, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[36]  L. Brillouin,et al.  Science and information theory , 1956 .

[37]  Quantitative Plant Ecology , 1960 .

[38]  R. Chesher.  Destruction of Pacific Corals by the Sea Star Acanthaster planci , 1969, Science.

[39]  C. E. SHANNON,et al.  A mathematical theory of communication , 1948, MOCO.

[40]  T. Goreau,et al.  Coral Community on Muddy Sand , 1968, Nature.

[41]  A. Kohn.  The Ecology of Conus in Hawaii , 1959 .

[42]  I. Good.  THE POPULATION FREQUENCIES OF SPECIES AND THE ESTIMATION OF POPULATION PARAMETERS , 1953 .

[43]  D. Stoddart,et al.  ECOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF RECENT CORAL REEFS , 1969 .

[44]  R. Macarthur.  ON THE RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF BIRD SPECIES. , 1957, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[45]  A. Kohn.  MICROHABITATS, ABUNDANCE AND FOOD OF CONUS ON ATOLL REEFS IN THE MALDIVE AND CHAGOS ISLANDS , 1968 .

[46]  G. Friedman.  Geology and Geochemistry of Reefs, Carbonate Sediments, and Waters, Gulf of Aqaba (Elat), Red Sea , 1968 .

[47]  E. H. Simpson.  Measurement of Diversity , 1949, Nature.

[48]  A. Mayer.  Ecology of the Murray Island Coral Reef. , 1915, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[49]  A. Sheldon,et al.  Equitability Indices: Dependence on the Species Count , 1969 .

[50]  R. Macarthur,et al.  On Bird Species Diversity , 1961 .

[51]  T. Dobzhansky,et al.  Evolution in the tropics , 1950 .

[52]  J. Lang,et al.  The Acanthaster Survey of Saipan, Marianas Islands, 1969. Structure and Ecology of the Saipan Reefs in Relation to Predation by Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus). , 1969 .

[53]  H. Gleason,et al.  On the Relation Between Species and Area , 1922 .

[54]  R. Macarthur,et al.  Niche Size and Faunal Diversity , 1960, The American Naturalist.

[55]  M. Dickman.  Some Indices of Diversity , 1968 .

[56]  J. F. Storr.  Ecology and oceanography of the coral-reef tract, Abaco Island, Bahamas , 1964 .

[57]  J. Connell,et al.  The Ecological Regulation of Species Diversity , 1964, The American Naturalist.

[58]  R. Sokal,et al.  THE COMPARISON OF DENDROGRAMS BY OBJECTIVE METHODS , 1962 .

[59]  P. Klopfer.  Environmental Determinants of Faunal Diversity , 1959, The American Naturalist.

[60]  A. Orr,et al.  SEDIMENTATION ON LOW ISLES REEF AND ITS RELATION TO CORAL GROWTH , 1931 .

[61]  S. A. Cain.  The Species-Area Curve , 1938 .

[62]  R. H. Whittaker,et al.  Dominance and Diversity in Land Plant Communities , 1965, Science.

[63]  G. E. Hutchinson,et al.  Copepodology for the Onithologist , 1951 .

[64]  H. Recher.  Bird Species Diversity and Habitat Diversity in Australia and North America , 1969, The American Naturalist.

[65]  J. Gentilli,et al.  Bio-Climatic Atlas of Israel , 1951 .

[66]  H. Wiegand.  Pielou, E. C. An introduction to mathematical ecology. Wiley Interscience. John Wiley & Sons, New York 1969. VIII + 286 S., 32 Abb., Preis 140 s , 1971 .

[67]  R. Macarthur.  PATTERNS OF SPECIES DIVERSITY , 1965 .

[68]  R. Levins.  The strategy of model building in population biology , 1966 .

[69]  H. L. Sanders,et al.  Faunal diversity in the deep-sea , 1967 .

[70]  M. Buzas,et al.  Species Diversity: Benthonic Foraminifera in Western North Atlantic , 1969, Science.

[71]  T. W. Vaughan,et al.  Revision of the Suborders Families, and Genera of the Scleractinia , 1943 .

[72]  N. S. Urquhart,et al.  Patterns in the Balance of Nature , 1966 .

[73]  Robert F. Inger,et al.  On the Diversity of Reptile and Amphibian Species in a Bornean Rain Forest , 1968, The American Naturalist.

[74]  F. W. Preston.  The Canonical Distribution of Commonness and Rarity: Part I , 1962 .

[75]  T. Goreau,et al.  Distribution of Labeled Carbon in Reef-Building Corals with and without Zooxanthellae , 1960, Science.

[76]  A. Kohn.  Environmental Complexity and Species Diversity in the Gastropod Genus Conus on Indo-West Pacific Reef Platforms , 1967, The American Naturalist.

[77]  T. Goreau,et al.  THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SKELETON FORMATION IN CORALS. II. CALCIUM DEPOSITION BY HERMATYPIC CORALS UNDER VARIOUS CONDITIONS IN THE REEF , 1959 .

[78]  T. Goreau,et al.  THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SKELETON FORMATION IN CORALS. III. CALCIFICATION RATE AS A FUNCTION OF COLONY WEIGHT AND TOTAL NITROGEN CONTENT IN THE REEF CORAL , 1960 .