Abstract
The Gulf of Kachchh is characterised by a strong tidal variation and the reef communities are capable of higher exposure time during negative tides. About 11 sites located along the Marine National Park (MNP) from west to east were studied for assessing the present status of live coral cover along with other life-form categories. In the present study, the maximum live coral cover was recorded in Pirotan Island, followed by Laku Point, Mithapur and Boriya reef. Multivariate analyses such as Principal Component Analysis and Correspondence Analysis supported that the contribution of live coral cover was more towards Pirotan Island whereas the contribution of coral species cover was more towards Laku Point. Bray-Curtis cluster analysis categorized all the study sites into four major clusters with 78 % similarity based on life-form categories. Among them, two clusters from western region (one forming site from Mithapur Reef to Lakku Point and another one forming from Ashaba Gugar Reef to Dabdaba Island), the third one combines the western and eastern regions (Boriya Reef to Kalubar Island), the fourth one comprises the eastern region (Narara Reef to Sikka), and one outlier Pirotan Island. Based on coral species cover, two major clusters with 55 % similarity were formed. Among them, one cluster was formed from Pirotan Island to Kalubar Island in the eastern side of MNP and the second one comprised the western region of MNP (Boriya Reef to Laku Point), and one outlier Mithapur Reef. Thirty one species of live corals belonging to 8 families and 18 genera were recorded in the Marine National Park itself during the study period.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ARMDES (1996) AIMS reef monitoring data entry system; version 1.6- long term reef monitoring project. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville
Arthur R (2000) Coral bleaching and mortality in three Indian reef regions during an El Nino Southern Oscillation event. Curr Sci 79(12):1723–1728
Beenaerts N, Berghe EV (2005) Comparative Study of Three Transect Methods to Assess Coral Cover, Richness and Diversity. West Ind Ocean J Mar Sci 4(1):29–37
Celliers L, Schleyer HM (2002) Coral bleaching on high-latitude marginal reefs at Sodwana Bay, South Africa. Mar Poll Bull 44:1380–1387
Dixit AM, Kumar P, Kumar L, Pathak KD, Patel MI (2010) Economic Valuation of Coral Reef Systems in Gulf of Kachchh. Final Report on World Bank aided Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project, submitted to Gujarat Ecology Commission, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India http://www.geciczmp.com/Data/Sites/1/docs/ebooks/economic-valuation-of-coralreef-systems-in-gulf-of-kachchh.pdf Accessed 25 October 2013
English S, Wilkinson C, Baker V (1997) Survey manual for Tropical Marine Resources. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia, 390 p
Geetha S, Kumar JSY (2012) Status of corals (Order: Sclerectinia) and associated fauna of Thoothukudi and Vembar group of Islands, Gulf of Mannar, India. Int J Sci Nature 3(2):340–349
George G, Vethamony P, Sudheesh K, Babu MT (2011) Fish larval transport in a macro-tidal regime: Gulf of Kachchh, west coast of India. Fish Res 110(1):160–169
Hammer O (2012) PAST—paleontological statistics version 2.15 reference manual. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
Hassan M, Kotb MMA, Al-Sofyani AA (2002) Status of coral reefs in the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden. In: Wilkinson CR (ed) Status of coral reefs of the world, 2002. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia, pp 45–53
Jha DK, Vinithkumar NV, Marimuthu N, Baskar B, Sahu BK, Das AK, Kirubagaran R (2013) Field and GIS based post-tsunami assessment of Scleractinian coral cover in the Aerial Bay group of Islands, North Andaman, India. J Coast Conserv 17:671–677
Kumar JSY, Raghunathan C (2012) Recovery status of scleractinian corals and associated fauna in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Phuket Mar Biol Cent Res Bull 71:63–70
Kumaraguru AK, Jeyakumar K, Ramakritinan CM (2003) Coral bleaching 2002 in the Palkbay, Southeast Coast of India. Curr Sci 85(12):1787–1793
Kumaraguru AK, Jeyakumar K, Wilson JJ, Ramakritinan CM (2005) Impact of the tsunami of 26 December 2004 on the coral reef environment of Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay in the southeast coast of India. Curr Sci 89(10):1729–1741
Marimuthu N, Dharani G, Vinithkumar NV, Vijayakumaran M, Kirubagaran R (2011) Recovery status of sea anemones from bleaching event of 2010 in the Andaman waters. Curr Sci 101(6):734–736
Marimuthu N, Wilson JJ, Vinithkumar NV, Kirubagaran R (2013) Coral reef recovery status of South Andaman Islands after the bleaching event 2010. J Ocean Univ China 14(1):91–96
Marsh LM, Bradbury RH, Reichelt RE (1984) Determination of the physical parameters of coral distributions using line transect data. Coral Reefs 2:175–180
Nair VR (2002) Status of Flora and Fauna of Gulf of Kachchh. National Institute of Oceanography report. Dona Paulo, Goa, p 157, http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/87 Accessed on 25 September 2013
Pillai CSG, Patel MI (1988) Scleractinian corals from the Gulf of Kutch. J Mar Biol Ass India 30:54–74
Satyanarayana CH, Ramakrishna (2009) Handbook on Hard Corals of Gulf of Kachchh. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata
Singh V, Patel K, Patel A, Mehmood K, Kathota J, Kalubarme MH (2012) Development of GIS for shrimp farms in coastal districts of Gujarat. http://www.geospatialworld.net/paper/application/ArticleView.aspx?aid=25213#sthash.a53DMYdX.dpuf Accessed on 1 October 2013
Tamelander J, Rajasuriya A (2008) Status of coral reefs in South Asia: Bangladesh, Chagos, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka. In: Status of coral reefs of the world: 2008. Wilkinson C (ed) Global coral reef monitoring network and reef and rainforest research centre, Townsville, pp 119–130 http://02cbb49.netsolhost.com/gcrmn/2008/8.%20South%20Asia.pdf Accessed 7 February 2013
Venkataraman K, Rajan PT (1998) Coral reefs of Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park and Crown of thron phenomenon. In: Gangwar B, Chandra K (eds) Symposium Proceedings Island Ecosystem and sustainable development, Andaman Science Association and Department of Science and Technology. A & N Administration, Port Blair, pp 124–132
Venkataraman K, Wafar M (2005) Coastal and marine biodiversity of India. Ind J Mar Sci 34(1):57–75
Venkataraman K, Satyanarayana Ch, Alfred JRB, Wolstenholme J (2003) Handbook on hard corals of India. Zoological Survey of India, Govt. of India, Kolkata.
Veron JEN (2000) Corals of the world. M. Stafford-Smith (Ed.) Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia.
Wilkinson C (2008) Status of coral reefs of the world: 2008. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, Townsville
Winter A, Appealdoorn RS, Bruckner A, Williams EH Jr, Goenaga C (1998) Sea surface temperatures and coral reef bleaching off La Peraguera, Puerto Rico (Northern Caribbean Sea). Coral Reefs 17:377–382
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support given by Mr. M.M. Bhalodi, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Mr. B.H. Dave, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India for their immense support. We also thank the scientific and supporting staffs of Zoological Survey of India, Jamnagar for their support in the field. We sincerely thank for financial support given by MNP, GoK, and State Project Management Unit of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, Gujarat, India. We would like to thank the Anonymous referee for his/her critical review and valuable comments to improve the quality of this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, J.S.Y., Marimuthu, N., Geetha, S. et al. Longitudinal variations of coral reef features in the Marine National Park, Gulf of Kachchh. J Coast Conserv 18, 167–175 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-014-0303-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-014-0303-6