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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.4, 23-32
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
31
of debris from the remains of dead coral, sand, and silt.
The reef community is approaching a maturity or
equilibrium stage analogous to similar Indo-Pacific
reefs (Dollar, 1982; Latypov and Malyutin, 1990; Dai,
1996; Latypov, 1990, 1999, 2000).
The high species diversity of the reef community of
Bach Long Vi and its ecological status require special
attention, and therefore recommendations were given
to the Academy of Science and Technology of
Vietnam regarding the establishment of a protected
area on the Bach Long Vi reef for the purpose of
conservation and restoration of the biodiversity of the
Gulf of Tonkin as a whole.
2 Materials and Methods
The research of the composition and specifics of
spatial distribution of corals and their associated fauna
and flora was carried out on the same hydrobiological
transects in three reefs in the South China Sea in
2004~2007 (Figure 10, 11). The traditional method for
similar studies, consisting of the frames and transects
described previously in detail (Loya and Slobodkin,
1971; Mergner, 1979; Latypov, 1995), was applied in
the research. Substrate covering by corals and
macrophytes was analyzed and the number of various
forms of various coral colonies and domination of
individual species were determined at each transect
using SCUBA technique.
Along the 100~200 meter's using frames, divided into
100 squares 10 cm
2
, assessed the number of species
branch, massive, incrusting and funnelform colonies
of scleractinian and the degree of coverage of the
substrate of corals and algae. Number mass a species
of mollusks and echinoderms counted up on the area
of 5~10 m
2
. The number of colonies of corals
recorded at transect, is calculated using the Shannon
diversity index using the formula H'
=－
Σ pi log Pi,
where Pi is the prevalence of colonies giving genera
(Bakus, 1990). The wide use of the underwater photo
technique was a specific feature of this research. The
population density of associated macrofauna was
assessed from the projective area of the bottom (corals)
taken for the count area. The reefs characterized based
on cumulative data, not considering annual variations.
Figure 10 Schema location of the reef
Note: 1: Bath Long Vi Island; 2: Island Re; 3: Jiang Bo Reef
Figure 11 Schema of the reef Bath Long Vi