Decline of the Mallndi-Watamu Reef Complex: Quantitative and qualitative survey of the coral growth.
The coral reef off the Kenya coast has declined strongly over the past two decades. Aim of this report is to quantify and qualify coral death, and to assess the contribution of certain factors of disturbance to the decline of these reefs. To attain these objectives, the Watamu Reef Expedition (WRE) developed a special method, that has been called a 'combined linetransect' method. The development and testing of this technique is described in detail In this report. Application of this method in the first place resulted in a comprehensive description of the reef, which allows an assessment of its present condition. Because of its broad approach, this method not only gave extensive information on qualitative and quantitative aspects of coral growth, but also on the condition and size of individual coral colonies. In all, more than 10,000 colonies were analysed. From the composition, cover, condition and colony size, one may assess the degree of reef degeneration, and establish correlations between these four parameters and factors of disturbance affecting the corals. The results obtained via the combined line-transect method are further discussed in this report. From these discussions it is apparent that the destructive effects of tourism are quite limited, and only felt very locally, and that the primary cause of coral death may be attributed to the sedimentation of silt, originating from the Sabaki river.
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Report biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Catholic University, Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology
1985
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| Subjects: | Coral reefs, Resource surveys, Sedimentation, Silting, Quantitative distribution, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1834/8485 |
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