Monitoring of coral communities in the inner Gulf of Thailand influenced by the elevated seawater temperature and flooding

Abstract

There were two severe coral bleaching events at Ko Khang Khao, the inner Gulf of Thailand, occurred during the prolonged period of the elevated sea surface temperature (SST) in 2010 and low salinity as well as turbidity due to heavy flooding in 2011. The bleaching index (BI) and mortality index (MI) are calculated to compare the susceptibilities of coral species in the two bleaching events. The BI and MI vary significantly among the study sites and bleaching events. The most susceptible corals during both bleaching events are Acropora millepora, Pocillopora damicornis and Pavona decussate, while the most resistant species were Galaxea fascicularis, Fungia fungites, Pavona frondifera, Oulastrea crispate, and Symphyllia recta. The corals Favia favus, Goniopora columna, Platygyra pini, Symphyllia agaricia were relatively more tolerant to high SST but they are relatively more susceptible to low salinity. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that the dissociation stress of the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and their cnidarian host results in the reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentration. Among stressors, both prolonged exposure of high SST and low salinity, above and below their thresholds, respectively. The long-term resilience of coral communities at Ko Khang Khao and other coral communities close to the mouth of large rivers may depend on the frequency and duration of the exposure on the elevated SST due to atmospheric heating and low salinity due to river flooding.