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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.39: 1-4
http://ijms.biopublisher.ca
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Research Article Open Access
Zonation of unstructured coral reef in various region of Indo-Pacific
Yuri Ya. Latypov
A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS), Vladivostok, Russia
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol.4, No.39 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0039
Received: 29 May, 2014
Accepted: 30 Jun., 2014
Published: 28 Jul., 2014
Copyright
©
2014 Latypov, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Latypov, 2014, Zonation of unstructured coral reef in various region of Indo-Pacific, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.4, No.39: 1-4 (doi:
10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0039)
Abstract
Zonal structure and composition of coral communities of so-called “unstructured reefs” were analyzed in various reefs of
Socotra Island and Vietnam. Those unstructured reefs located on the periphery of the Indian Ocean, the high eutrophication waters of
Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea. Scheme assumed succession of reefs formed structural morphological zonation (lagoon, reef
flat, etc.). Unstructured reefs represent a stable ecosystem adapted to strongly turbid and eutrophic waters. The reefs have stable
species composition and community structure in the same bionomical zones on different reefs, and are characterized by high species
diversity. The composition and distribution of coral communities on encrusting reefs, forming heterotrophic internal and autotrophic
external components of an integral ecosystem do not differ from such on reefs in terms of a clear pattern of zonation in general
throughout the Indo-Pacific.
Keywords
Unstructured reef; Structure; Species composition; Indo-pacific
Introduction
The two main variables determining the geo-
morphology, or shape, of coral reefs are the nature of
the underlying substrate on which they rest, and the
history of the change in sea level relative to that
substrate.
In Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages
in atoll formation. It starts with a fringing reef forming
around an extinct volcanic island as the island and
ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the
fringing reef becomes a barrier reef, and ultimately an
atoll reef (Darwin, 1842). The three principal reef
types are:
Fringing reef
– directly attached to a shore,
or borders it with an intervening shallow channel or
lagoon;
Barrier reef
– reef separated from a mainland
or island shore by a deep channel or lagoon;
Atoll
reef
– more or less circular or continuous barrier reef
extends all the way around a lagoon without a central
island. In addition, there are still other concepts and
terms to refer to different types of reef: Patch reef,
Apron reef, Ribbon reef and so on (Coris glossary,
internet).
The mass development of corals either in models of
coral community succession (Connell and Slatyer,
1977), on the other hand, in the formation of reefs
on artificial substrata (Schuhmacher, 1977) and in
reefs at different stages of development (Hubbard,
1974; Loya, 1976) must follow a phased formation of
a cover by biogenic deposits in which corals are
pioneer settlers. Colonies of certain species settle and
gradually give rise to multispecific settlements
(Hubbard, 1974) that form, with time, the primary
coral layer (Pichon, 1974; Dai, 1993).
In areas with monsoon climate, there are structural and
unstructured reefs (Wainwright, 1965; Latypov, 1995).
Their development is associated with a constant
turbidity, periodic dilution by fresh water. Their
limestone framework is at the stage of “framework
building” (Sheppard, 1982) when cementation of
sediments and the filling of reefogenous deposits
occur. It is rather difficult to distinguish such reefs
from real structural reefs or the different
developmental stages of reef like “coral layers” and
“specialized settlements” and may need a new term.
Such encrusting reefs, along with the usual structural
reefs, are widespread along the shores of Vietnam
(Sheppard., 1982; Latypov, 2013; Latypov, and
Malyutin, 1990).
In the outlying areas of the Indian Ocean and in high
eutrophication waters of the South China Sea met
frequently the so-called "unstructured reefs", who did
not have the typical reef zonation in morphological