[Coral-List] Corals in extreme/marginal environment - Bangladesh
tomascik at novuscom.net
tomascik at novuscom.net
Tue Sep 19 20:01:53 UTC 2023
Hi everyone,
St. Martin’s Island (SMI) is a unique sedimentary island in the
northeastern Bay of Bengal, located at the northern section of Coral
Ecoregion ER024, see Corals of the World:
http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/coral_geographic/interactive_map/
To anyone interested in pursuing research on corals found in
extreme/marginal environments, I would like to direct you to a recent
coral guide published by the Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute
for the corals of SMI:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373993708_Corals_of_St_Martin's_Island_Bangladesh_An_illustrative_guide
To my knowledge, corals found on SMI represent the northernmost extent
of scleractinian corals in ER024, with a relatively species-rich coral
assemblage. However, coral reef development in the waters of SMI has
failed to materialize. SMI is located in an extreme and marginal coral
environment as a result of its proximity to major river systems (e.g.,
Ganges-Brahmaputra River, Naf River), heavy freshwater runoff, high
water turbidity, low salinities, frequent cyclonic storms, and major
seismic events. For example during the last megathrust seismic event in
1762, SMI was uplifted by about 2 m, see:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040195118302634?via%3Dihub
This is the first illustrative guide to coral species from the northern
region of the coral ecoregion ER024. Thus far, very little field
research has been conducted in this fascinating area. If anyone out
there is interested in pursuing future research in extreme/marginal
coral environments please let me know and I will do my best to assist
you to link you up with coral researchers in Bangladesh.
Cheers,
Tom
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