Distribution of different coral morphs of the coral Porites lutea in the Gulf of Thailand
Keywords:
abundance, coral reefs, diversity, Porites, Gulf of ThailandAbstract
The scleractinian corals Porites complex are dominant corals generally found in coral reefs in the Gulf of Thailand. However, understanding of their biology and ecology is relatively limited. This study aimed to explain the taxonomy and ecology of the massive Porites complex in the Gulf of Thailand by focusing on the distribution patterns and ultrastructures of Porites complex that have different morphs in the eastern, inner and western Gulf of Thailand. Permanent belt-transects, 1 x 100 m2, were used to observe coral colonies at fifteen study sites. In order to investigate the ultrastructure of corals. Based on the field observations, three major morphs of Porites complex were clearly observed, i.e. brown (B), green (G), and yellow (Y). The B-morph was the most dominant at all study sites. The Y-morph was more abundant than G-morph at the study sites in the eastern and Inner Gulf of Thailand. The similarity of multidimension scaling analysis and hierarchical clustering showed analogous results. The size classes of colored different P. lutea revealed that colonies ranged of 25-50 cm were found as an abundant size in the Gulf of Thailand. However the G-morph was more abundant than Y-morph at the study sites in the western Gulf of Thailand.
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