Reef foraminifera as bioindicators of coral reef health in southern South China Sea

Aishah Norashikin Abdul A’ziz,Omar Abdul Rahman Abdul Manaf,Hasrizal Shaari,Fatin Izzati Minhat,Hui-Juan Pan,Md Nizam Ismail,Wan Nurzalia Wan Saelan,Nazihah Azmi

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88404-3

Aishah Norashikin Abdul A’ziz, Omar Abdul Rahman Abdul Manaf + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88404-3

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Abstract

Pulau Tioman is a famous tourist island off Peninsular Malaysia with beautiful coral reefs. This study aims to assess the health of the coral reefs surrounding Pulau Tioman based on the application of the Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring Index (FI). Ten sampling sites around Pulau Tioman were studied with a total of 30 samples. Eight orders, 41 families, 80 genera, and 161 species of benthic foraminifera were identified. The agglutinated type of foraminifera constituted 2–8% of the total assemblages. Calcareous hyaline and porcelaneous groups represented 79% and 19% of the total assemblages, respectively. Symbiont-bearing taxa were the most common foraminifera. The results indicate that most of the sampling sites are conducive for coral reef growth with good recoverability from future stress to the ecosystem. However, several areas with higher coastal development and tourism have reduced water and sediment quality. Therefore, the limit on the number of visitors and tourists should be revised to enable coral growth and health. The FI values in this study showed a positive correlation with good water qualities and a negative correlation with organic matter enrichment. The FI is a good measure to assess the health of a coral reef and can be applied to other reef ecosystems around Malaysia.

Highlights

The coral reef ecosystem is among the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world that plays a vital role in shaping the balance of environmental processes over the past 200 million y ears[1]
A total of 8 orders, 41 families, genera, and 161 species of benthic foraminifera were identified around Pulau Tioman
The foraminifera assemblages in Pulau Tioman are dominated by rotaliid genera, such as Amphistegina, Calcarina, Operculina, and Peneroplis, with most species having a symbiotic relationship with diatom or algae (Appendix 1), which is similar to worldwide reef foraminifera distributions[16,17,18]

Summary

Introduction

The coral reef ecosystem is among the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world that plays a vital role in shaping the balance of environmental processes over the past 200 million y ears[1]. Because coral reef ecosystems provide various natural environmental services, their ability to survive the global climate anomaly is important. The FI was developed as a low-cost monitoring tool to indicate whether the quality of water surrounding a reef ecosystem can support reef g rowth[11]. This index was first applied in the Western Atlantic reef[11] and has subsequently been applied widely in other regions, including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia[7,8], reefs in Brazilian w aters[14], and the Saronikos Gulf, Greece[15].

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