Pleistocene Coral Reef Terraces on the Saudi Arabian Side of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

AbstractCorals from the Gulf of Aqaba (northern Red Sea) are resilient to high temperatures and therefore this region is regarded as globally important for reef conservation. However, long-term dynamics of coral reef assemblages from the Gulf of Aqaba remain largely understudied. In this study, we analysed the change in benthic, fish and invertebrate assemblages of reefs around Dahab (South Sinai, Egypt) between 2009 and 2019. We also studied the individual trajectories of coral reef benthic categories, key invertebrate and fish species and their relationship. As site emerged as the main factor explaining the variability in coral reef communities, we identified three clusters of sites with similar assemblages. Both benthic, fish and invertebrate assemblages changed considerably at the three site clusters between 2009 and 2019. We found significant increases in fleshy macroalgae (~ 6 to 15%) and cyanobacterial mats (~ 6 to 12%) in all site clusters. Although not observing a significant reduction of hard coral cover, both macroalgae mat cover and cyanobacterial mat cover were significantly negatively related to hard coral cover and hard coral disease. Soft coral cover (mainly corals from the Xeniidae family) decreased significantly in two of the site clusters, their cover being negatively related to macroalgal and cyanobacterial cover. Significant declines in grazer urchins were observed at all site clusters, and a strong negative relationship was found with macroalgae and cyanobacterial mats cover, suggesting urchin decline as one of the main drivers behind algal increases. Different site clusters had different fish trajectories (butterflyfish, parrotfish, surgeonfish and predators), with only damselfish densities significantly decreasing at all sites. A significant decrease in damselfish densities was related to increases in cyanobacterial mats. These findings suggest that if macroalgae and cyanobacteria continue to increase, Dahab coral reefs could undergo degradation, and therefore, more studies are needed to elucidate the drivers behind these algal increases.

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Daily Migrations of a Coral Reef Fish in the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba, Israel): Initiation and Orientation

Copeia ◽

10.2307/1447336 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 1998 (4) ◽

pp. 893 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Anthony Inder Mazeroll ◽

W. Linn Montgomery

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Reef Fish ◽

Red Sea ◽

Coral Reef Fish ◽

Gulf Of Aqaba

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Mollusc Fauna Associated with Late Pleistocene Coral Reef Systems of the Saudi Arabian Side of the Gulf of Aqaba

Geological Setting, Palaeoenvironment and Archaeology of the Red Sea ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-99408-6_17 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 367-387

Author(s):

Lorenzo Angeletti ◽

Najeeb M. A. Rasul ◽

Marco Taviani

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Saudi Arabian ◽

Gulf Of Aqaba

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Marine litter in coral reef areas along the Jordan Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Journal of Environmental Management ◽

10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.03.014 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 90 (2) ◽

pp. 1043-1049 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Ahmad Abu-Hilal ◽

Tariq Al-Najjar

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Red Sea ◽

Gulf Of Aqaba ◽

Marine Litter

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The past century of coral bleaching in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.10200 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. e10200

Author(s):

Thomas M. DeCarlo

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Red Sea ◽

Coral Bleaching ◽

Saudi Arabian ◽

Outer Shelf ◽

Past Century ◽

Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽

Late 20Th Century ◽

The Past ◽

Coral Reef Ecosystems

Accurate knowledge of the spatial and temporal patterns of coral bleaching is essential both for understanding how coral reef ecosystems are changing today and forecasting their future states. Yet, in many regions of the world, the history of bleaching is poorly known, especially prior to the late 20th century. Here, I use the information preserved within skeleton cores of long-lived Porites corals to reconstruct the past century of bleaching events in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea. In these cores, skeletal “stress bands”—indicative of past bleaching—captured known bleaching events that occurred in 1998 and 2010, but also revealed evidence of previously unknown bleaching events in 1931, 1978, and 1982. However, these earlier events affected a significantly lesser proportion of corals than 1998 and 2010. Therefore, coral bleaching may have occurred in the central Red Sea earlier than previously recognized, but the frequency and severity of bleaching events since 1998 on nearshore reefs is unprecedented over the past century. Conversely, corals living on mid- to outer-shelf reefs have not been equally susceptible to bleaching as their nearshore counterparts, which was evident in that stress bands were five times more prevalent nearshore. Whether this pattern of susceptible nearshore reefs and resistant outer-shelf reefs continues in the future remains a key question in forecasting coral reef futures in this region.

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