First record of tropical storm (Pabuk - January 2019) damage on shallow water reef in Pulau Bidong, south of South China Sea

Abstract

Little is known regarding the damage caused by tropical storms to the coral reefs in the southern region of the South China Sea, especially in Malaysia where tropical storms are a rare occurrence. In January 2019, a tropical storm known as Pabuk was recorded near Malaysia. This storm brought strong winds (>50 mph) to the region and created strong currents (>1 m/s) as well as large significant wave heights (>4 m). The physical disturbances due to this storm were stronger than usual and caused some damage to the coral reefs surrounding that area. In this study, we examined the physical changes to the coral reefs in Pantai Pasir Cina, Pulau Bidong that occurred before and after the event of tropical storm Pabuk. The results of this study indicated that the live coral cover was significantly reduced from 47.9 ± 5.02% to 28.75 ± 3.9%, while the dead coral cover increased from 26.3 ± 3.8% to 65.09 ± 3.77% based on the average live and dead coral cover when all the transects were combined. Corals at depths of 3 m were the most affected as compared to corals at depths of 8 m, in which more than 60% reduction of live coral cover was identified in 3 m-depth transects and up to 30% reduction was observed in 8 m-depth transects. The analysis of non-metric multidimensional scaling showed no clear changes in coral communities, although the percentage cover of dominant corals such as Acropora and Fungia decreased drastically. Since the aftereffects of the storm were significant, it is vital for frequent monitoring to be performed in the future to identify changes in coral communities within the region.