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Change in coral reef benthic communities in the Lembeh Strait and Likupang, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

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Abstract

Anthropogenic impacts and natural disturbances have been intense recently in the global scale, affecting the composition of coral reef benthic communities from coral to algal dominated reefs. However, this condition does not always occur considering corals are able to recover when the stressors falter. This study aims to investigate the change in coral reef benthic communities and the relationship among benthic categories. The study was carried out in 2014 and 2016 at five sites, three sites in the Lembeh Strait and two sites in Likupang, North Sulawesi Province. Underwater Photo Transect (UPT) was used at depth of around 4–6 m in slope areas. The result indicated that the benthic communities were slightly changing: the percent covers of hard corals, sponges, soft corals, macroalgae and substrate categories were not significantly different between the years but category of others, particularly seasonally growing hydroid, increased significantly, occupying the available substrates and overtopping other benthos surrounding. The study also found that there was a significant relationship between the change in benthic gradient and the number of hard coral colonies: when the composition becomes less complex, the number of colony declines. In contrast, the hard coral diversity remained unchanged, suggesting the coral reefs apparently have an ecological resilience (sustainable species diversity) against the change although ecological complexity declines. In addition, the hard coral cover was significantly correlated with soft coral and sponge covers, which did not change significantly among the years. In general, the coral reefs in North Sulawesi might experience a temporary blip due to the increasing percent cover of others, and be predicted to recover as there was no indication of soft corals and sponges to increase significantly. However, it is necessary to investigate the dynamic of benthic communities in different depth gradients to gain a comprehensive understanding as the communities respond differently to the light intensity.

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Acknowledgements

This research was part of collaboration between Third Institute of Oceanography, China and Research Center for Oceanography, Indonesia. The authors acknowledge the financial support from both institutions. The authors also thank all of the staff at the Conservation Unit for Bitung Marine Life for logistic and technical supports during the field work.

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Correspondence to Tri Aryono Hadi or Suharsono.

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Foundation item: The China-Indonesia Maritime Cooperation Fund Project “China-Indonesia Bitung Ecological Station Establishment”; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41676096; the Biodiversity of Coastal Ecosystem, Kema, North Sulawesi; the Scientific Research Foundation of Third Institute of Oceanography, SOA under contract No. 2015024.

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Hadi, T.A., Sihouka, J., Shi, X. et al. Change in coral reef benthic communities in the Lembeh Strait and Likupang, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 37, 45–54 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-018-1287-0

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