Temporal dynamics in coral reefs over a set of years.
2019 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Coral reefs are among the ecosystems most threatened by ongoing climate change and anthropogenic activities. It still remains unclear whether protection of marine protected areas from human activities can reduce impacts on corals reefs from acute thermal and physical stress and making them more resilient to climate related disturbances. This study investigates the temporal dynamics and trend of coral cover from 2015 to 2018. Also, assessing the coral health status from 2015 to 2018 in MIMP. I obtained secondary data and information based on benthic monitoring of coral reefs. My result show that there is a significant difference in percentage coral cover between years H= 29.39, df=3, p=0.000002 at MIMP. Number of bleached corals are stronger correlated R= -0.83, p<0.0001 than number of sea urchins R= -0.31, p= 0.032 with the percent coral cover. Coral cover fluctuates with periods of decline and recovery, corals tend to bleach from January to April and recover reach higher coral cover values during September to November every year. As the number of bleached corals increase healthy corals decline and vice versa. In 2016 there was a greater number of bleached corals but after that a recovery followed until 2018 when healthy corals at MIMP were at a higher abundance indicating the resilience ability of the reefs. However, with the likely future conditions there is still much to worry about with the anomalous ocean warming, as corals live very close to their upper thermal threshold. I suggest that careful management and monitoring of the coral reefs is paramount.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2019. , p. 26
Keywords [en]
Coral cover, coral bleaching, coral reef mponitoring, marine protected area, sea urchin, climate change
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-39863OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-39863DiVA, id: diva2:1327249
External cooperation
Tanzania Marine Park Authority
Subject / course
Environmental Science
Educational program
Master's Programme in Applied Environmental Science
Presentation
2019-06-03, N 106, Halmstad, 16:30 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
2019-06-202019-06-192019-06-20Bibliographically approved