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Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

100%

Al-Zibdah M. K., Damhoureyeh S. A., Badran M. I.

Oceanologia

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2007

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tom 49

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nr 4

A detailed ecological study was conducted for three years (2001–03) on a 5 km stretch of well-developed coral reef facing an industrial site in the southernmost section of the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. The degree of modification associated with the prevailing ecological factors was assessed with respect to species diversity and abundance of the major groups of the macrobenthic community: corals, bivalves, hydrozoans, echinoderms, sponges and macroalgae. Three locations of two depths each – 6 and 12 m – were selected and surveyed using the visual census point-intercept method. The actual area of the survey covered about 2250 m2. Macrobenthic communities occurring close to the industrial jetty were characterized by low diversity and the obvious dominance of soft coral (16–30% cover). In the deep transects (12 m) hard coral cover was higher than that in the shallow transects (30–55%). Correlation analyses indicated that species richness increased with increasing distance from the industrial jetty. Species richness of other macrobenthos was also higher as depth increased. The results revealed that the distribution and abundance of coral, echinoderms, hydrozoans and macroalgae were correlated with the relative importance of bottom modification within the various locations in the entire study area. However, no distinct influence of location or depth on the identities of most macrobenthic species was indicated.

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Nutrient flux fuels the summer primary productivity in the oligotrophic waters of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

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Badran M. I., Rasheed M., Manasrah R., Al-Najjar T.

Oceanologia

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2005

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tom 47

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nr 1

The thermohaline characteristics of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, depict a welldefined seasonal pattern of winter mixing from December to April and summer stratification from May to November. This thermohaline structure is a major controlling factor of the nutrient, chlorophyll a and primary productivity seasonal cycles. The nitrate and chlorophyll a concentration records generated down to 200 m at a vertical resolution of 25 m – weekly during 1994, 1995 and every two weeks from April 1997 through to December 2000 – are employed to assess the nitrogen flux across the summer thermocline of the Gulf of Aqaba. The flux calculations are based on a simple diffusion model that incorporates the physical stress eddy diffusivity factor Kz and a biological stress factor k. Both Kz and k are calculated using the Michaelis-Menten equation and the nitrate concentration gradient. The total nitrate flux of the Gulf of Aqaba during the seven summer months (May–November) is estimated at 0.52 moleN m−2. In relation to established primary productivity values (75.5 gC m−2 (May November)−1) and the generated chlorophyll a records, this yields an f fraction of new to total primary production of 0.50. This relatively high f value is discussed with respect to the geophysical characteristics of the Gulf of Aqaba and similar oceanic basins. The remaining 50% is accounted for by cross-sectional flow from the relatively nutrientrich coral reef coastal habitat and rapid recycling, triggered by high irradiance and water temperature.

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Relationships between water temperature, nutrients and dissolved oxygen in the Northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

100%

Manasrah R., Raheed M., Badran M. I.

Oceanologia

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2006

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tom 48

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nr 2

Five years (1998, 2000–2003) of summer records of temperature, nutrients and dissolved oxygen concentrations in the upper 400 m of the water column of the northern Gulf of Aqaba were employed to produce a simple statistical model of the relationship between temperature versus nitrate, phosphate, silicate andd issolved oxygen concentrations. Temperature profiles in the upper 400 m during summer revealeda clear thermocline in the upper 200 m. This was reflected in nutrient ando xygen concentrations as nitrate, phosphate, and silicate increasedfr om the surface to deep water while dissolved oxygen decreased. The best fit relationship between temperature versus nitrate andphosphate was inverse linear and the best fit correlation between temperature versus silicate andd issolvedo xygen was fractional. The observedn utrient concentrations were shaped by a combination of the hydrodynamics and biological factors. Deep winter mixing and high nutrient concentrations dominate during winter. Shortly after the water stratifies in spring, the nutrients are drawn down by phytoplankton during the spring bloom and remain low throughout the rest of the year. The regression equations presented here will be useful in estimating nutrient concentrations from temperature records as long as the annual natural cycle is the main driver of nutrient concentrations and external inputs are insignificant. Deviations from these relationships in the future could provide insight into modifications in the nutrient concentrations probably resulting from new nutrient sources, such as anthropogenic inputs.

Ograniczanie wyników

3 Oceanologia

3 Badran M. I.

2 Manasrah R.

1 Al-Najjar T.

1 Al-Zibdah M. K.

1 Damhoureyeh S. A.

1 Raheed M.

1 Rasheed M.

1 2007

1 2006

1 2005

Temporal variations in coral reef health at a coastal industrial site on the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Nutrient flux fuels the summer primary productivity in the oligotrophic waters of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Relationships between water temperature, nutrients and dissolved oxygen in the Northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea