Alidoost Salimi Mahsa, Mostafavi Pargol Ghavam, Fatemi Seyyed Mohammad, Aeby Greta S
Department of Marine Biology, Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Dis Aquat Organ. 2017 Mar 30;124(1):77-84. doi: 10.3354/dao03105.
Corals in the Persian Gulf exist in a harsh environment with extreme temperature and salinity fluctuations. Understanding the health of these hardy corals may prove useful for predicting the survival of other marine organisms facing the impacts of global climate change. In this study, the health state of corals was surveyed along belt transects at 4 sites on the east side of Kish Island, Iran. Corals had a patchy distribution, low colony densities and species diversity, and were dominated by Acropora, Porites, and Dipsastrea. We found chronic sedimentation on corals, a high prevalence of old partial mortality, abundant bioeroders, and overgrowth of corals by sponges and bryozoans. These are all signs indicating suboptimal environmental conditions for coral reefs. Four types of tissue loss lesions consistent with disease were found: Porites multi-focal chronic tissue loss, Porites peeling tissue loss, Porites focal chronic tissue loss, and Dipsastrea focal sub-acute tissue loss. Overall disease prevalence was 3.6% and there were significant differences in prevalence among the 3 most abundant coral genera. Acropora was numerically dominant within transects yet showed no signs of disease, whereas Porites had a 14% disease prevalence, indicating differential susceptibility to disease among genera. Other coral lesions included pigmentation response in Porites associated with algae invasion or boring organisms, sponge overgrowth, and mucus sheathing in Dipsastrea. The Persian Gulf region is understudied, and this represents one of the first quantitative surveys of coral health and disease on these reefs.
波斯湾的珊瑚生存环境恶劣，温度和盐度波动极大。了解这些顽强珊瑚的健康状况，可能有助于预测其他面临全球气候变化影响的海洋生物的生存情况。在本研究中，我们沿着伊朗基什岛东侧4个地点的带状样带对珊瑚的健康状况进行了调查。珊瑚分布零散，群体密度低，物种多样性也低，主要由鹿角珊瑚属、孔珊瑚属和盘星珊瑚属组成。我们发现珊瑚上存在长期沉积现象，旧的局部死亡发生率很高，生物侵蚀者大量存在，并且海绵和苔藓虫在珊瑚上过度生长。这些都是表明珊瑚礁环境条件欠佳的迹象。我们发现了四种与疾病相符的组织损失病变类型：多孔螅多灶性慢性组织损失、多孔螅脱皮组织损失、多孔螅灶性慢性组织损失和盘星珊瑚灶性亚急性组织损失。总体疾病患病率为3.6%，在三个最常见的珊瑚属中，患病率存在显著差异。鹿角珊瑚属在样带中数量占主导，但未表现出疾病迹象，而多孔螅属的疾病患病率为14%，这表明不同属对疾病的易感性存在差异。其他珊瑚病变包括多孔螅中与藻类入侵或钻孔生物相关的色素沉着反应、海绵过度生长以及盘星珊瑚中的黏液覆盖。波斯湾地区的研究较少，这是对这些珊瑚礁珊瑚健康和疾病的首批定量调查之一。
