Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem; John A. Burt; Adel Hasan Alsaffar; Weizhong Chen; Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari

doi:doi:10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem, John A. Burt, Adel Hasan Alsaffar, Weizhong Chen, Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari

Published in Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science (Volume 6, Issue 6)

Received: 22 August 2017 Accepted: 16 October 2017 Published: 29 November 2017

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Abstract

Coral reefs in Kuwait occur at high latitude (29 N) and in in extreme environmental conditions (SST range: 13°C to 32°C, annually), and have been subject to chronic anthropogenic pressure in recent decades (recurrent bleaching, oil spills, chronic recreational anchoring and diving impacts). We surveyed coral communities at six sites around Kubbar Island in 2015 and compared these to quantitative survey results collected at the same sites 31 years earlier (1984) as well as to results from several sites resurveyed a decade ago (2003) in order to characterize changes in coral community structure in this marginal reef environment. Mean coral cover was 25% in 2015 compared with 34% in 1984, but declines in coral cover were significant at only one site. The decline in coral cover at this single site was mainly due to a >80% loss of formerly dominant ^Acropora, and a concomitant shift towards a lower cover community dominated by massive corals. A total of 13 coral genera were observed across sites, comparable to the 12 observed in 1984 and the 13 observed in 2003. Overall, the results of this study indicate a high degree of long term stability in coral community structure in the marginal and heavily disturbed environment of northern Kuwait.

Published in	Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science (Volume 6, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
Page(s)	85-89
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Coral, Community, Kuwait, Resilience, Stability

References

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[3]	Carpenter, K., Harrison, P., Hodgson, G., Alsaffar, A., Alhazeem, S., 1997. The corals and coral reef fishes of Kuwait. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait.
[4]	Downing, N., 1985. Coral reef communities in an extreme environment: the northwestern Arabian Gulf, Proceedings of the fifth International Coral Reef Congress (27 May -1 June, 1985), Tahiti, pp. 343-348.
[5]	Downing, N., Roberts, C., 1993. Has the Gulf War affected coral reefs of the northwestern Gulf? Mar Pollut Bull 27, 149-156.
[6]	Gerges, M. A., 1993. On the impacts of the 1991 Gulf War on the environment of the region: General observations. Mar Pollut Bull 27, 305-314.
[7]	Alsaffar, A. H., Lone, K. P., 2000. Reproductive cycles of Diadema setosum and Echinometra mathaei (Echinoidea: echinodermata) from Kuwait (northern Arabian Gulf). Bull Mar Sci 67, 845-856.
[8]	Downing, N., El-Zahr, C. R., 1987. Gut evacuation and filling rates in the rock-boring sea urchin, Echinometra mathae. Bull Mar Sci 41, 579-584.
[9]	Downing, N., 1988. The coral reefs and coral islands of Kuwait, Proceedings of the ROPME workshop on coastal area development. United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 90/ROPME Publication No. GC-5/006, pp. 73-78.
[10]	Fadlallah, Y. H., Eakin, M., Allen, K., Rahim, R., Reaka-Kudla, M., Earle, S., 1993. Reef coral distribution and reproduction, community structure, and reef health (Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait): results of the RIV Mt. Mitchell Cruise, Proceedings of the Scientific Workshop on the Results of the Mt. Mitchell Cruise in the ROPME Sea Area, January 1993, Kuwait, pp. 1-26.
[11]	Bento R, Hoey AS, Bauman AG, Feary DA, Burt JA (2016) The implications of recurrent disturbances within the world's hottest coral reef. Mar Pollut Bull 105:466-472.
[12]	Burt, J., Al-Harthi, S., Al-Cibahy, A., 2011. Long-term impacts of bleaching events on the world’s warmest reefs. Mar Environ Res 72, 225-229.
[13]	Burt, J., Al-Khalifa, K., Khalaf, E., AlShuwaik, B., Abdulwahab, A., 2013. The continuing decline of coral reefs in Bahrain. Mar Pollut Bull 72, 357-363.
[14]	Burt JA, Smith EG, Warren C, Dupont J (2016) An assessment of Qatar's coral communities in a regional context. Mar Pollut Bull 105:473-479.
[15]	Riegl B, Purkis S (2015) Coral population dynamics across consecutive mass mortality events. Global Change Biology 21:3995-4005.
[16]	Riegl, B., Purkis, S., 2012. Dynamics of Gulf coral communities: observations and models from the world’s hottest coral sea, in: Riegl, B. M., Purkis, S. J. (Eds.), Coral reefs of the Gulf: adaptation to climatic extremes. Springer Science+Business Media B. V., pp. 71-93.
[17]	Hodgson, G., Carpenter, K., 1995. Scleractinian corals of Kuwait. Pac Sci 49, 227-246.
[18]	Buchanan JR, Krupp F, Burt JA, Feary DA, Ralph GM, Carpenter KE (2016) Living on the edge: Vulnerability of coral-dependent fishes in the Gulf. Mar Pollut Bull 105:480-488.

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APA Style

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem, John A. Burt, Adel Hasan Alsaffar, Weizhong Chen, Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari. (2017). Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science, 6(6), 85-89. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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ACS Style

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem; John A. Burt; Adel Hasan Alsaffar; Weizhong Chen; Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari. Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait. J. Water Resour. Ocean Sci. 2017, 6(6), 85-89. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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AMA Style

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem, John A. Burt, Adel Hasan Alsaffar, Weizhong Chen, Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari. Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait. J Water Resour Ocean Sci. 2017;6(6):85-89. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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@article{10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12,
  author = {Shaker Hamza Alhazeem and John A. Burt and Adel Hasan Alsaffar and Weizhong Chen and Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari},
  title = {Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait},
  journal = {Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science},
  volume = {6},
  number = {6},
  pages = {85-89},
  doi = {10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wros.20170606.12},
  abstract = {Coral reefs in Kuwait occur at high latitude (29 N) and in in extreme environmental conditions (SST range: 13°C to 32°C, annually), and have been subject to chronic anthropogenic pressure in recent decades (recurrent bleaching, oil spills, chronic recreational anchoring and diving impacts). We surveyed coral communities at six sites around Kubbar Island in 2015 and compared these to quantitative survey results collected at the same sites 31 years earlier (1984) as well as to results from several sites resurveyed a decade ago (2003) in order to characterize changes in coral community structure in this marginal reef environment. Mean coral cover was 25% in 2015 compared with 34% in 1984, but declines in coral cover were significant at only one site. The decline in coral cover at this single site was mainly due to a >80% loss of formerly dominant Acropora, and a concomitant shift towards a lower cover community dominated by massive corals. A total of 13 coral genera were observed across sites, comparable to the 12 observed in 1984 and the 13 observed in 2003. Overall, the results of this study indicate a high degree of long term stability in coral community structure in the marginal and heavily disturbed environment of northern Kuwait.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait
AU  - Shaker Hamza Alhazeem
AU  - John A. Burt
AU  - Adel Hasan Alsaffar
AU  - Weizhong Chen
AU  - Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari
Y1  - 2017/11/29
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
T2  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
JF  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
JO  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
SP  - 85
EP  - 89
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7993
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
AB  - Coral reefs in Kuwait occur at high latitude (29 N) and in in extreme environmental conditions (SST range: 13°C to 32°C, annually), and have been subject to chronic anthropogenic pressure in recent decades (recurrent bleaching, oil spills, chronic recreational anchoring and diving impacts). We surveyed coral communities at six sites around Kubbar Island in 2015 and compared these to quantitative survey results collected at the same sites 31 years earlier (1984) as well as to results from several sites resurveyed a decade ago (2003) in order to characterize changes in coral community structure in this marginal reef environment. Mean coral cover was 25% in 2015 compared with 34% in 1984, but declines in coral cover were significant at only one site. The decline in coral cover at this single site was mainly due to a >80% loss of formerly dominant Acropora, and a concomitant shift towards a lower cover community dominated by massive corals. A total of 13 coral genera were observed across sites, comparable to the 12 observed in 1984 and the 13 observed in 2003. Overall, the results of this study indicate a high degree of long term stability in coral community structure in the marginal and heavily disturbed environment of northern Kuwait.
VL  - 6
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem

Ecosystem-Based Management of Marine Resources Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Centre, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, AlSalmyah, Kuwait
John A. Burt

Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Adel Hasan Alsaffar

Ecosystem-Based Management of Marine Resources Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Centre, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, AlSalmyah, Kuwait
Weizhong Chen

Ecosystem-Based Management of Marine Resources Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Centre, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, AlSalmyah, Kuwait
Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari

Ecosystem-Based Management of Marine Resources Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Centre, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, AlSalmyah, Kuwait

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APA Style

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem, John A. Burt, Adel Hasan Alsaffar, Weizhong Chen, Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari. (2017). Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science, 6(6), 85-89. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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ACS Style

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem; John A. Burt; Adel Hasan Alsaffar; Weizhong Chen; Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari. Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait. J. Water Resour. Ocean Sci. 2017, 6(6), 85-89. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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AMA Style

Shaker Hamza Alhazeem, John A. Burt, Adel Hasan Alsaffar, Weizhong Chen, Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari. Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait. J Water Resour Ocean Sci. 2017;6(6):85-89. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12

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@article{10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12,
  author = {Shaker Hamza Alhazeem and John A. Burt and Adel Hasan Alsaffar and Weizhong Chen and Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari},
  title = {Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait},
  journal = {Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science},
  volume = {6},
  number = {6},
  pages = {85-89},
  doi = {10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wros.20170606.12},
  abstract = {Coral reefs in Kuwait occur at high latitude (29 N) and in in extreme environmental conditions (SST range: 13°C to 32°C, annually), and have been subject to chronic anthropogenic pressure in recent decades (recurrent bleaching, oil spills, chronic recreational anchoring and diving impacts). We surveyed coral communities at six sites around Kubbar Island in 2015 and compared these to quantitative survey results collected at the same sites 31 years earlier (1984) as well as to results from several sites resurveyed a decade ago (2003) in order to characterize changes in coral community structure in this marginal reef environment. Mean coral cover was 25% in 2015 compared with 34% in 1984, but declines in coral cover were significant at only one site. The decline in coral cover at this single site was mainly due to a >80% loss of formerly dominant Acropora, and a concomitant shift towards a lower cover community dominated by massive corals. A total of 13 coral genera were observed across sites, comparable to the 12 observed in 1984 and the 13 observed in 2003. Overall, the results of this study indicate a high degree of long term stability in coral community structure in the marginal and heavily disturbed environment of northern Kuwait.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Long-Term Coral Community Stability in a Disturbed Marginal Reef in Kuwait
AU  - Shaker Hamza Alhazeem
AU  - John A. Burt
AU  - Adel Hasan Alsaffar
AU  - Weizhong Chen
AU  - Mohammad Abdulla Al-Kandari
Y1  - 2017/11/29
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
T2  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
JF  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
JO  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
SP  - 85
EP  - 89
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7993
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170606.12
AB  - Coral reefs in Kuwait occur at high latitude (29 N) and in in extreme environmental conditions (SST range: 13°C to 32°C, annually), and have been subject to chronic anthropogenic pressure in recent decades (recurrent bleaching, oil spills, chronic recreational anchoring and diving impacts). We surveyed coral communities at six sites around Kubbar Island in 2015 and compared these to quantitative survey results collected at the same sites 31 years earlier (1984) as well as to results from several sites resurveyed a decade ago (2003) in order to characterize changes in coral community structure in this marginal reef environment. Mean coral cover was 25% in 2015 compared with 34% in 1984, but declines in coral cover were significant at only one site. The decline in coral cover at this single site was mainly due to a >80% loss of formerly dominant Acropora, and a concomitant shift towards a lower cover community dominated by massive corals. A total of 13 coral genera were observed across sites, comparable to the 12 observed in 1984 and the 13 observed in 2003. Overall, the results of this study indicate a high degree of long term stability in coral community structure in the marginal and heavily disturbed environment of northern Kuwait.
VL  - 6
IS  - 6
ER  -

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