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PeerJ
2022 Oct 06;10:e13634. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13634.
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Recent deterioration of coral reefs in the South China Sea due to multiple disturbances.
Xiao J
,
Wang W
,
Wang X
,
Tian P
,
Niu W
.
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More frequent global warming events, biological disasters, and anthropogenic activities have caused extensive damage to coral reefs around the world. Coral reefs in the Xisha Islands (also known as the Paracel Islands) have been damaged following rounds of heatwaves and crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) outbreaks over recent decades. Based on a comprehensive community survey in 2020, we determined a diagnosis for the present state of six coral regions in the Xisha Islands. The findings suggested that these regions had a total of 213 species of scleractinian corals belonging to 43 genera and 16 families. Living coral coverage across sites was widely divergent and ranged from 0.40% (IQR: 7.74-0.27%) in Panshi Yu to 38.20% (IQR: 43.00-35.90%) in Bei Jiao. Coral bleaching prevalence was 23.90% (IQR: 41.60-13.30%) overall and topped out at 49.30% (IQR: 50.60-48.10%) in Bei Jiao. Five of the coral regions (all but Yongxing Dao) were under threat of CoTS outbreaks. High mortality combined with excellent recruitment rates suggested potential rehabilitation after recent deterioration. We employed a quantifiable Deterioration Index (DI) to evaluate the intensity of deterioration of coral reefs in the Xisha Islands. The results showed that Yongxing Dao and Langhua Jiao had low recent deterioration (DIrecent = 0.05, IQR: 0.07-0.02 and 0.04, IQR: 0.11-0.01, respectively), while Bei Jiao, Yongle Atoll, Yuzhuo Jiao, and Panshi Yu had high recent deterioration (DIrecent > 0.16). Different monitoring sites within the same coral region were heterogeneous with regards to all above indexes. Moreover, we reviewed and discussed potential disturbances that threaten the health of the Xisha Islands' corals. It is crucial to identify severely afflicted areas and find successful methods to better manage coral reef health in this region.
Figure 1. Six regions in the Xisha Islands with 44 coral reef monitoring sites denoted by red dots.
Figure 2. Dimensional difference of health indicators across different monitoring sites in the Xisha Islands.
Figure 3. Deterioration Index recent values (DIrecent) of 43 survey sites.Inset map shows the location of different monitoring sites and regions with numbers and colors.
Figure 4. Sea surface temperature (SST) by month (A) and degree heating week (DHW) time series graph (B) of Xisha Islands.MMM SST: maximum monthly mean SST, threshold SST: MMM SST + 1 °C. No stress: SST ≤ MMM SST; bleaching watch: MMM SST < SST < threshold SST; bleaching warning: SST ≥ threshold SST and 0 < DHW < 4, possible bleaching; alert level 1: SST ≥ threshold SST and 4 ≤ DHW < 8, significant bleaching likely; alert level 2: SST ≥ threshold SST and DHW ≥ 8, severe bleaching and significant mortality likely.
Figure 5. Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) of Xisha Islands.(A) Spatial distribution and density (ind. per 100 m2) of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) across six coral regions. (B and C) CoTS are attacking corals, arrows point the bleaching or dead tissues.
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