Morphologie, Ökologie und Zonierung von Korallenriffen bei Aqaba, (Golf von Aqaba, Rotes Meer)

Abstract

The coral reefs of the Gulf of Aqaba are among the most northern ones of the world. This study, the first concerning the east coast of this topographically and hydrographically peculiar sea, considers relationships of biophysiographical and structural reef zones to fundamental abiotic environmental factors. An introduction to paleogeography, geology, petrography, topography, climate and hydrography is followed by terminological definitions used to describe the different reef areas. The investigations were carried out on two transects crossing fringing reefs of different shape. Each transect was 20 m wide and run from the shore over nearly 200 m to the fore reef in about 30 m depth. One reef, a "coastal-fringing reef", represents an unaltered straight reef flat from shore to the reef edge 60 m away; two large pinnacles reach the surface some 125 m off the shore. The other reef, a "lagoon-fringing reef", is divided into a 100 m wide lagoon of 0.5-2.3 m depth and a reef crest separated from the former by a rear reef. The reef platform of the lagoon-fringing reef is cut by a system of channels and tunnels; the reef edge is about 135 m off shore. Such water depth, substrate, temperature, illumination and water movement were recorded, about 200 common or dominant species (plants and animals) were collected, their distribution plotted and, together with other data and structural items, charted. Indicator species characterize the biophysiographical zones. Their variation as well as that of the structural and substrate zones depend on different zones of water movement. This basic factor also controls other ecological parameters such as food and oxygen supply as well as temperature and salinity gradients between fore reef and shore. From this point of view the ecological requirements of some indicator and other species and conversely the ecological settings of different reef areas are discussed. The different shapes of both reefs are explained on the basis of a "reef development cycle" - a hypothesis applicable to fringing reefs at unchanging sea level and based on the fact that only a small surf-influenced area of "living reef" is able to compensate for reef destruction: While a young coastal fringing reef is growing outwards, its back reef is gradually altered to a reef lagoon by erosion. After stillstand of seaward expansion the reef crest, too, is cut by a channel system eroded by rip currents. This stage is represented by the lagoon-fringing reef. Isolated pinnacles remain as remnants of the former reef crest; young coastal-fringing reefs develop from the shore. This stage is examplified by the first reef studied. Extension, growth intensity, dominant frame building corals, and the number of species of the Aqaba reefs are compared with those of Eilat and with reefs of the middle Red Sea, South India, Southwest-Pacific and Jamaica. © 1974 Biologischen Anstalt Helgoland.