Discovery of a living coral reef in the coastal waters of Iraq

Pohl, Thomas; Al-Muqdadi, Sameh W.; Ali, Malik H.; Fawzi, Nadia Al-Mudaffar; Ehrlich, Hermann; Merkel, Broder J.

doi:10.1038/srep04250

Cited by 36 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…in Cape Verde [ 64 ], Gulf of Guinea [ 65 ], and our model correctly predicts their presence, these reefs have not yet been charted and therefore do not appear in the observational data. Additionally, new reefs are constantly being discovered [ 66 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suitable Environmental Ranges for Potential Coral Reef Habitats in the Tropical Ocean

2015

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Coral reefs are found within a limited range of environmental conditions or tolerance limits. Estimating these limits is a critical prerequisite for understanding the impacts of climate change on the biogeography of coral reefs. Here we used the diagnostic model ReefHab to determine the current environmental tolerance limits for coral reefs and the global distribution of potential coral reef habitats as a function of six factors: temperature, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, aragonite saturation state, and light. To determine these tolerance limits, we extracted maximum and minimum values of all environmental variables in corresponding locations where coral reefs are present. We found that the global, annually averaged tolerance limits for coral reefs are 21.7—29.6 °C for temperature, 28.7—40.4 psu for salinity, 4.51 μmol L-1 for nitrate, 0.63 μmol L-1 for phosphate, and 2.82 for aragonite saturation state. The averaged minimum light intensity in coral reefs is 450 μmol photons m-2 s-1. The global area of potential reef habitats calculated by the model is 330.5 × 103 km2. Compared with previous studies, the tolerance limits for temperature, salinity, and nutrients have not changed much, whereas the minimum value of aragonite saturation in coral reef waters has decreased from 3.28 to 2.82. The potential reef habitat area calculated with ReefHab is about 121×103 km2 larger than the area estimated from the charted reefs, suggesting that the growth potential of coral reefs is higher than currently observed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suitable Environmental Ranges for Potential Coral Reef Habitats in the Tropical Ocean

2015

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“…Iraqi coral reefs are offshore, distributed within a space of approximately 28 km 2 , at depths ranging between 7-20 m (Pohl et al, 2014) (Map 1). The study area is located in the northwest Arabian Gulf between 29°36'30´´N -29°39'20.94´´N latitude and 48°48'21.2´´E -48°49'89.1´´E longitude (Map 2, Tab.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the ocean, where aragonite saturation decreases, the effect will tend to favor organisms that create the more stable forms of calcium carbonate, such as calcite and high magnesium calcite; aragonite-creating organisms, like corals, will in turn be subject to more dissolution and bio-erosion, calcification of all groups, however; is negatively affected by the decrease in the carbonate saturation of sea waters (Feely et al, 2004). Coral reefs in the northern and northwestern territories of the Arabian Gulf are exposed to a very heavy load of particles that derive their input from the Shatt Al-Arab River of Iraq; nine species of coral reefs we are discovered in the Iraqi marine environment between September of 2012 and May of 2013 by Marine Science Center (MSC) of Basrah, Iraq and Scientific Diving Center (SDC) of Freiberg ,Germany (Pohl et al,2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Coral Reef in Iraqi Marine Environment in the North Part of Arabian Gulf

Al-Jaberi

Al-Dabbas

Jaber

2018

BINHM

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Coral reef area in northwest of the Arabian Gulf was investigated for mineralogy and geochemistry to throw lights on such unique Iraqi Marine Environment; six specimens of two main species of coral reefs, Platygyra pini and Octocoral Menella were collected at two sites. While eight samples of the surrounding sediments are chosen from other two sites. The mineralogy is determined by XRD, and reveals that calcite, low magnesium-calcite, and aragonite are the main minerals that comprise the Octocoral Menella in site 1, whilst aragonite and calcite are dominate in the P. pini coral reef at site 4. The non-carbonate fractions indicate that these coral reefs contain quartz, anorthite feldspare , halite, and gypsum; the highest content of aragonite was observed in the P. pini compared to calcite. The abundance of carbonate minerals (92.1%) in the P. pini is in contrast to (73.1%) in the Menella. The main minerals in the sediments of site 2 are represented by chlorite and talc, whereas quartz and phengite are the most prominent minerals that diagnose in sediments of site 3; phengite mineral is a first discovery in the sediments of Arabian Gulf, whilst talc is a first detection in Iraqi marine sediments. The concentration of CaO is the most abundant oxide in all the analyzed specimens of the coral reef followed by SiO2. There are high proportions of calcium oxide in P. pini Chevalier coral (56.65 %) than the Menella (48.81%). There are some special pattern of distribution for major and trace elements in coral reef area based on calcium content. Most of the silica came from quartz, phengite and clay minerals; the highest concentrations of

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“…In recent decades, coral reefs worldwide are impacted by global climate change and anthropogenic disturbances [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Three chemical pollution categories have generally attracted attention in marine systems: oil and oil derivatives [ 2 , 5 ], heavy metals [ 6 , 7 ], and synthetic organics such as pesticides and herbicides [ 8 , 9 ]. The most important forms of anthropogenic disturbance to coral reefs include additional threats such as damages associated with fishing activities, euthrophication and pollution caused by sewage discharge, heat stress caused by effluents from power plants, and sedimentation from dredging and mud dumping (as reviewed by [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past decades, industrial development has caused serious metal pollution, where metals accumulate in marine sediments [ 6 , 7 , 45 , 46 ] and marine organisms [ 47 , 48 ] in many coastal areas worldwide [ 12 , 14 , 49 ]. In Taiwan, investigators reported bio-accumulation of metals in plankton [ 50 , 51 ], as well as in sediments and benthic organisms [ 11 , 52 , 53 ], and scleractinian corals [ 54 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioaccumulation of trace metals in octocorals depends on age and tissue compartmentalization

et al. 2018

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Trace metal dynamics have not been studied with respect to growth increments in octocorals. It is particularly unknown whether ontogenetic compartmentalization of trace metal accumulation is species-specific. We studied here for the first time the intracolonial distribution and concentrations of 18 trace metals in the octocorals Subergorgia suberosa, Echinogorgia complexa and E. reticulata that were retrieved from the northern coast of Taiwan. Levels of trace metals were considerably elevated in corals collected at these particular coral habitats as a result of diverse anthropogenic inputs. There was a significant difference in the concentration of metals among octocorals except for Sn. Both species of Echinogorgia contained significantly higher concentrations of Cu, Zn and Al than Subergorgia suberosa. We used for the first time exponential growth curves that describe an age-specific relationship of octocoral trace metal concentrations of Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb where the distance from the grip point was reflecting younger age as linear regressions. The larger colony (C7) had a lower accumulation rate constant than the smaller one (C6) for Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb, while other trace metals showed an opposite trend. The Cu concentration declined exponentially from the grip point, whereas the concentrations of Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb increased exponentially. In S. suberosa and E. reticulata, Zn occurred primarily in coenosarc tissues and Zn concentrations increased with distance from the grip point in both skeletal and coenosarc tissues. Metals which appeared at high concentrations (e.g. Ca, Zn and Fe) generally tended to accumulate in the outer coenosarc tissues, while metals with low concentrations (e.g. V) tended to accumulate in the soft tissues of the inner skeleton.

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Discovery of a living coral reef in the coastal waters of Iraq

Cited by 36 publications

References 21 publications

Suitable Environmental Ranges for Potential Coral Reef Habitats in the Tropical Ocean

Suitable Environmental Ranges for Potential Coral Reef Habitats in the Tropical Ocean

Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Coral Reef in Iraqi Marine Environment in the North Part of Arabian Gulf

Bioaccumulation of trace metals in octocorals depends on age and tissue compartmentalization

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