Synopsis
Coral mining takes place on shallow reef flats at a number of localities in the Maldives, but not on the adjacent deeper reef slopes. A semi-quantitative census method for fish species abundance and biomass is described. Fish community structure is compared on mined and non-mined reef flats and their adjacent slopes using a variety of univariate, graphical/distributional and multivariate statistical techniques. In general, univariate and graphical distributional methods do not indicate significant differences between mined and non-mined localities with respect to the relative abundances and biomasses of species. Multivariate methods (both classification and ordination), however, indicate very clear-cut effects of mining on the reef flats, and also significant effects on reef slopes adjacent to mined flats. The effect was equally clear using non-quantitative (presence/absence) data. The fish species mainly responsible for the differences between mined and non-mined localities are identified, and the differences are explained in terms of the feeding biology of these species.
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Dawson Shepherd, A.R., Warwick, R.M., Clarke, K.R. et al. An analysis of fish community responses to coral mining in the Maldives. Environ Biol Fish 33, 367–380 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010949
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010949