Assessment of Coral Mortality in Mu Ko Chumphon National Park, Western Gulf of Thailand, Following the 2024 Mass Bleaching Event
Keywords:
coral bleaching, coral mortality, Gulf of Thailand, Mu Ko Chumphon National Park, thermal stressAbstract
Climate-induced coral bleaching poses a major threat to tropical reef ecosystems, driving rapid habitat degradation, altered community structure, and long-term biodiversity decline. Thermal anomalies in 2024 triggered mass bleaching across the Western Gulf of Thailand, including reefs within Mu Ko Chumphon National Park, Thailand. his study examined the extent of bleaching and coral mortality at Ko Ngam Noi, Mu Ko Chumphon National Park, following the 2024 bleaching event. Field observations recorded 21 scleractinian coral species distributed across the reef complex. During peak thermal stress, more than 80% of total live-coral cover exhibited acute paling to full bleaching, with the highest stress prevalence observed in branching Acropora and massive Porites functional guilds. Acropora muricata and Porites rus experienced the highest bleaching prevalence, indicating genus-level sensitivity patterns consistent with fast-growing, branching, and massive reef-building functional groups. Post-bleaching mortality accounted for 4.8% of the total reef area, with the greatest mortality concentration in Acropora divaricata and Platygyra sinensis, mapped as contiguous patches of recently dead colonies, tissue-loss skeletons, and algal overgrowth succession zones. Despite relatively low overall reef mortality compared to bleaching prevalence, clear species-specific divergence emerged in survival trajectories, bleaching remission, and early stress-recovery signals, demonstrating marked differences in bleaching tolerance, recovery capacity, and structural resilience. The results indicate that a small proportion of colonies incurred irreversible physiological failure, while most surviving colonies displayed sub-acute recovery responses, suggesting the reef is entering a regeneration phase mediated by heat-tolerant taxa and partial assemblage turnover. These findings underline the ecological significance of species-level resilience heterogeneity in buffering reef collapse, and reinforce the need for adaptive spatial governance, targeted coral-nursery reinforcement, and evidence-driven restoration planning to sustain reef functional recovery, enhance climate resilience, and safeguard reef-associated biodiversity critical for fisheries and ecotourism economies in Thailand.References
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