Coral Reef Research Paper

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of study Corals are the foundation species of tropical coral reef ecosystems. They directly facilitate thousands of associated species by generating the physically complex reef structure (Bruno & Bertness, 2001). Coral reefs are the underwater ecosystems were held together by calcium carbonate structures which is secreted by corals and also are the most diverse and beautiful of all marine habitats. Often called "rainforests of the sea", this is because coral reef ecosystem occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species, for example fish, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians ( Mulhal,2009: Spalding…show more content…
The reef is topographically complex like a rain forest because it has many strata and areas of strong shade, cast by the over towering coral colonies. Because of the complexity, thousands of species of fish and invertebrates live in association with reefs, which are by far our richest marine habitats. Yet coral reefs harbor more than one quarter of the ocean's biodiversity. No other ecosystem occupies such a limited area with more life forms. To date, over 1,500 species of reef-building corals have been identified, with new discoveries occuring each year. Of the known species, over 1,400 are found in the Indian and Pacific oceans an area known as the Indo-Pacific region and only approximately 70 are found in the Atlantic/Caribbean region (Veron, 2000). There are over 500 species of coral found in the Coral Triangle alone in a region encompassing the waters around the Phillipines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands that making this region one of the global hotspots of coral diversity. Even outside of the Coral Triangle, a typical reef in the Indo-Pacific region contains nearly twice as many coral species as an Atlantic/Caribbean reef. For this reason, reefs are often compared to rainforests, which are the only other ecosystem that can boast anywhere near the amount of biodiversity found on a…show more content…
Studies carried out in general in which it covers many other aspects of coral biodiversity, the health of coral, reef fish zonation and biodiversity in the region (Harborne et al., 2000). Most of the coral reef survey in Malaysia are using the Point Intercept Transect method (English et al., 1994) because it is more convenient and practical. Through this study, information on coral cover the most will be identified and can be used as a reference in the future especially for researcher in compare the data from now and future. It also can give the information about current status of the coral at specified
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