Abstract
The Philippine archipelago’s complex bathymetry, hydrology, and geologic history indicate the likely development of unique coral communities. However, there are few studies on coral community structure in the Philippines. Adult coral composition was analyzed through classification and ordination of data from 206 sampling stations, covering all Philippine marine biogeographic regions, on upper slopes of mostly well-developed fringing reefs. Seven coral community types are distinguished: I—moderately wave-exposed, mostly southwest-facing slopes with abundant massive Porites and branching Acropora; II—highly wave-exposed, mostly northeast-facing slopes, dominated by encrusting Isopora; III—low-exposure slopes with high hard coral cover (HCC), dominated by branching Porites; IV—wave-sheltered communities with abundant Galaxea; V—low-HCC communities with stress-tolerant corals; VI—Heliopora-dominated communities; VII—communities with low HCC and high macroalgal cover. Coral composition in these types is influenced by broad-scale hydrologic regimes (i.e., wave exposure and monsoon forcing) and local stressors. Applications of the typology are proposed for the spatial management of protected seascapes.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Department of Science and Technology—Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) for funding the National Assessment of Coral Reef Environments Project 1 (QSR-MR-COR03.001) and the Acidification Impacts on the Demography of Corals Project 4 (QMSR-MRRD-MEC-295-1450). We also thank the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Philippine Coral Reef and Mangrove Remote Sensing Project and Coral Reef Visualization and Assessment Project for financing part of the assessments. We thank the current and past members of the DLSU-SHORE Center for their contributions to the projects. Dr. OC Cabrera’s insights were instrumental in improving the study. This study is part of the masters’ thesis of GNR Feliciano, who was a graduate scholar of the DOST-PCAARRD Graduate Research and Education Assistantship for Technology Program.
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338_2023_2391_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx
Sheet 1: Coral composition data (% cover of hard coral taxonomic amalgamation units (TAUs) for the 206 sampling stations); Sheet 2: Data sources and explanation of values for the environmental parameters used in the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA); Sheet 3: Environmental data of the 206 assessment stations used in the CCA; Sheet 4: List of 59 hard coral TAU codes and their descriptions; Sheet 5: List of hard coral TAUs for each coral community type arranged according to rank abundance; Sheet 6: PCoA ordination plots with Eigenvalues and percent variance explained of (1) 204 sampling stations grouped into seven hard coral community types and (2) 204 sampling stations grouped into seven hard coral community types including succession vectors of the four monitoring stations (XLSX 389 kb)
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Feliciano, G.N.R., Rollon, R.N. & Licuanan, W.Y. Coral community structure of Philippine fringing reefs is shaped by broad-scale hydrologic regimes and local environmental conditions. Coral Reefs 42, 873–890 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02391-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02391-7