Reef Creature Identification Tropical Pacific Pdf Download

Reef Creature Identification Tropical Pacific Pdf Download

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Regarding the origin of these new fish records, a previous study on Hong Kong reef fish assemblage compared the reef fish species in Hong Kong with those of adjacent areas, and suggested that some of the rarer or sporadically occurring tropical species occurring in Hong Kong may have been transported as larvae from south of Hong Kong by the Hainan current (Cornish 1999). The presence of rare species at their juvenile stages in Hong Kong was suggested to further support the legitimacy of this possible pathway (Cornish 1999). Such transport of juveniles of tropical species into subtropical regions has also been noted in other places, such as the occurrence of tropical and subtropical fishes in temperate southeastern Australia (Booth et al. 2007), and in New Zealand (Francis et al. 1999). Likewise, the Taiwan current from the East China Sea invades Hong Kong in winter (Morton and Morton 1983), which potentially brings subtropical or temperate fish larvae species into Hong Kong (Cornish 1999).

The authors would like to thank Professor K.T. Shao (Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica), Dr. Andy Cornish (WWF) and Dr. Mark Erdmann (Conservation International) for advice on species identification in this study. The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments to improve the quality of the manuscript. The authors would like to express deep gratitude to Fion Cheung and Kathleen Ho as dive buddies in this study and for their helpful comments during the preparation of this manuscript. The financial and technical support from Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong (OPCFHK) in piloting this underwater reef fish survey is greatly appreciated. The Swire Group Charitable Trust kindly supported the expense of this publication.

Sometimes called rainforests of the sea,[3] shallow coral reefs form some of Earth's most diverse ecosystems. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean area, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species,[4][5][6][7] including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians.[8] Coral reefs flourish in ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas.

Healthy tropical coral reefs grow horizontally from 1 to 3 cm (0.39 to 1.18 in) per year, and grow vertically anywhere from 1 to 25 cm (0.39 to 9.84 in) per year; however, they grow only at depths shallower than 150 m (490 ft) because of their need for sunlight, and cannot grow above sea level.[29]

Most coral reefs exist in waters less than 50 m deep.[51] Some inhabit tropical continental shelves where cool, nutrient-rich upwelling does not occur, such as the Great Barrier Reef. Others are found in the deep ocean surrounding islands or as atolls, such as in the Maldives. The reefs surrounding islands form when islands subside into the ocean, and atolls form when an island subsides below the surface of the sea.

The off-reef floor is the shallow sea floor surrounding a reef. This zone occurs next to reefs on continental shelves. Reefs around tropical islands and atolls drop abruptly to great depths and do not have such a floor. Usually sandy, the floor often supports seagrass meadows which are important foraging areas for reef fish.

However, the "topography of coral reefs is constantly changing. Each reef is made up of irregular patches of algae, sessile invertebrates, and bare rock and sand. The size, shape and relative abundance of these patches change from year to year in response to the various factors that favor one type of patch over another. Growing coral, for example, produces constant change in the fine structure of reefs. On a larger scale, tropical storms may knock out large sections of reef and cause boulders on sandy areas to move."[53]

In the northern Pacific Ocean cloud sponges still create deep-water mineral-structures without corals, although the structures are not recognizable from the surface like tropical reefs. They are the only extant organisms known to build reef-like structures in cold water.[citation needed]

In The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, published in 1842, Darwin described how coral reefs were found in some tropical areas but not others, with no obvious cause. The largest and strongest corals grew in parts of the reef exposed to the most violent surf and corals were weakened or absent where loose sediment accumulated.[19]

Warming-induced range expansion of tropical species to higher latitudes has led to increased grazing on some coral reefs, rocky reefs, seagrass meadows and epipelagic ecosystems, leading to altered ecosystem structure (medium confidence). Warming, sea level rise (SLR) and enhanced loads of nutrients and sediments in deltas have contributed to salinisation and deoxygenation in estuaries (high confidence), and have caused upstream redistribution of benthic and pelagic species according to their tolerance limits (medium confidence). {5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.6, 5.2.3}

Human activities and warming have already led to major impacts on shallow water tropical coral reefs caused by species replacement, bleaching and decreased coral cover while warming, ocean acidification and climate hazards will put warm water corals at very high risk even if global warming can be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 20181026; Kubicek et al., 20191027; Sully et al., 20191028). While providing new evidence to support these previous assessments (Kleypas, 20191029), this assessment focuses on evaluating the variations in sensitivities and responses of coral reefs and their associated biota to highlight comparative risks and resiliences.

Globally, coral reefs and their associated communities are projected to change their species composition and biodiversity as a result of future interactions of multiple climatic and non-climatic hazards (Kleypas, 20191043; Kubicek et al., 20191044; Rinkevich, 20191045) (high evidence, very high agreement, very high confidence). Multiple stressors act together to increase the risk of population declines or local extinction of reef-associated species through impacts of warming and ocean acidification on physiology and behaviours (Gunderson et al., 20171046) (high confidence). Alteration of composition of coral reef-associated biota is exacerbated by changes in habitat conditions through increased sedimentation and nutrient concentrations from human coastal activities (Fabricius, 20051047) (high confidence). Coral ecosystems in tropical small islands are also at high risk of being affected by extreme events, including storms, with their impacts exacerbated by SLR (Duvat et al., 20171048; Harborne et al., 20171049) (high confidence). Such risks on coral reef associated communities are substantially elevated when the level of these climatic and non-climatic hazards are above thresholds that may cause phase shifts in reef communities (McCook, 19991050; Hughes et al., 20101051; Graham et al., 20131052; Hughes et al., 20181053) (high confidence). A phase shift is characterised by an abrupt decrease in coral abundance or cover, with concurrent increase in the dominance of non-reef building organisms, such as algae and soft corals (Kleypas, 20191054). Such phase shifts have already been observed in many coral reefs worldwide (Wernberg et al., 20161055; Kleypas, 20191056).

previously indicated (Rocha et al., 20181089). Monitoring of coral reefs worldwide shows that some areas in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (Smith et al., 20171090), the Caribbean (Chollett and Mumby, 20131091), the Red Sea (Fine et al., 20131092; Osman et al., 20171093), the Persian Gulf (Coles and Riegl, 20131094) and the Great Barrier Reef, Australia (Hughes et al., 20101095; Morgan et al., 20171096) have recovered more rapidly after bleaching than the larger-scale average (medium confidence). There are regional differences in reef vulnerability when considering scales larger than 100 km or over latitudinal gradients (van Hooidonk et al., 20131097; Heron et al., 20161097; Langlais et al., 20171099; McClenachan et al., 20171100) (high confidence).

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