Department of Biological, Marine Science Group, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Fano Marine Center, The Inter-Institute Center for Research on Marine Biodiversity, Resources and Biotechnologies, Fano, Italy.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 15;18(3):e0282239. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282239. eCollection 2023.
Large artificial coral reef communities, such as those thriving on sunken shipwrecks, tend to mirror those of nearby natural coral reefs and their long-term dynamics may help future reef resilience to environmental change. We examined the community structure of the world-renown "SS Thistlegorm" wreck in the northern Red Sea from 2007 through 2014, analyzing data collected during the recreational citizen science Red Sea monitoring project "Scuba Tourism for the Environment". Volunteer divers collected data on 6 different diving parameters which included the date of the dive, maximum depth, average depth, temperature, dive time, hour of dive, and gave an abundance estimation of sighted taxa from a list of 72 target taxa. Although yearly variations in community structure were significant, there was no clear temporal trend, and 71 of all 72 target taxa were sighted throughout the 8 years. The 5 main taxa driving variations among year clusters in taxa presence/absence (Soft Tree Coral-Dendronephthya spp., Giant Moray-Gymnothorax javanicus, Squirrel Fish-Sargocentron spp., Humpback Batfish-Platax spp., and Caranxes-Carangidae) and taxa abundance (Soft Tree Coral, Giant Moray, Red Sea Clownfish-Amphiprion bicinctus, Napoleon Wrasse-Cheilinus undulatus, and Caranxes) data were determined. The "SS Thistlegorm" provides a compelling example of how artificial coral reefs can sustain a well-established community structure similar to those of their natural counterparts.
大型人工珊瑚礁群落，如沉船残骸上的群落，往往与附近的天然珊瑚礁群落相似，其长期动态变化可能有助于未来珊瑚礁对环境变化的恢复力。我们在 2007 年至 2014 年期间对著名的“SS Thistlegorm”沉船残骸的群落结构进行了研究，分析了“潜水旅游环保项目”中收集的数据。志愿者潜水员收集了 6 种不同潜水参数的数据，包括潜水日期、最大深度、平均深度、温度、潜水时间、潜水时间以及对 72 种目标分类群中可见分类群的丰富度估计。尽管群落结构的年度变化显著，但没有明显的时间趋势，72 种目标分类群中有 71 种在 8 年内都有发现。5 种主要分类群在物种存在/不存在（软珊瑚-Dendronephthya spp.，巨型海鳗-Gymnothorax javanicus，松鼠鱼-Sargocentron spp.，驼背鱼-Platax spp.和鲷科-Carangidae）和分类群丰度（软珊瑚、巨型海鳗、红海小丑鱼-Amphiprion bicinctus、拿破仑濑鱼-Cheilinus undulatus 和鲷科）数据中驱动了年度聚类之间的变化。“SS Thistlegorm”为人工珊瑚礁如何能够维持与天然珊瑚礁相似的良好群落结构提供了一个引人注目的例子。
