Characterization of Coral Communities at Kingman Reef in the Remote Central Pacific Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 584

摘要

Kingman Reef, an atoll in the northern Line Islands of the central Pacific, is among the last of the remote locations in the U.S. Pacific to be scientifically explored underwater, and previously published surveys of its benthic reef communities have been limited to the seaward-facing fore-reef habitat. Here, we apply multivariate statistical analyses to data acquired in 2004 from several complementary survey methods that operate at different scales of spatial and taxonomic resolution to characterize the coral communities in 5 habitats, 3 of which are further stratified by geographic sector or depth zone. Coral cover is highest in the small lagoon pool inside the southeast vertex of the perimeter reef, followed by the fore reef, patch reefs, reef flat, and lagoon slope. Benthic communities are more highly variable on the fore reef, but the coral cover and colony abundances are less dominated by a few key genera than in other habitats. While the relative representation of coral taxa varies among habitats, Porites, Fungia, Pocillopora, Sinularia, Turbinaria, Acropora, and Favia all contribute > 10% of the total coral cover in at least one habitat.