Palau International Coral Reef Center, 1 M-Dock Road, P.O. Box 7086, Koror 96940, Palau.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2011 Apr;62(4):824-31. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.12.015. Epub 2011 Jan 19.
Coral community structure is often governed by a suite of processes that are becoming increasingly influenced by land-use changes and related terrestrial discharges. We studied sites along a watershed gradient to examine both the physical environment and the associated biological communities. Transplanted corals showed no differences in growth rates and mortality along the watershed gradient. However, coral cover, coral richness, and coral colony density increased with increasing distance from the mouth of the bay. There was a negative relationship between coral cover and mean suspended solids concentration. Negative relationships were also found between terrigenous sedimentation rates and the richness of adult and juvenile corals. These results have major implications not only for Pacific islands but for all countries with reef systems downstream of rivers. Land development very often leads to increases in river runoff and suspended solids concentrations that reduce coral cover and coral diversity on adjacent reefs.
珊瑚群落结构通常受到一系列过程的控制，这些过程越来越受到土地利用变化和相关陆地排放的影响。我们研究了沿流域梯度的地点，以检查物理环境和相关的生物群落。移植珊瑚在流域梯度上的生长速度和死亡率没有差异。然而，珊瑚覆盖率、珊瑚丰富度和珊瑚菌落密度随着离海湾口的距离增加而增加。珊瑚覆盖率与悬浮固体平均浓度呈负相关。陆地沉积物沉积率与成年和幼年珊瑚的丰富度之间也存在负相关关系。这些结果不仅对太平洋岛屿，而且对所有河流下游有珊瑚系统的国家都有重大影响。土地开发常常导致河流径流量和悬浮固体浓度增加，从而降低相邻珊瑚礁的珊瑚覆盖率和多样性。
