We studied coral reefs in the marginal, high turbidity, high sedimentation environment of the Bay of Banten, NW Java, Indonesia. Coral cover increased and coral partial mortality decreased along an inshore-offshore gradient. Asexual recruitment was dominant, but sexual recruitment was still occurring (-10%). High turbidity (k'= 0.17-1.26) and sedimentation (2.5-63 mg cm-2day-1) limit reef development inshore but levels of sedimentation did not correlate with reef development. Resuspension of bottom sediment (75.3%) was important, preventing direct negative effects of sedimentation. At the level of the coral organism we found RNA/DNA ratios in coral tissue, presumably reflecting tissue growth characteristics, to be negatively related with depth over the reef slope. Also, RNA/DNA ratios were consistently higher in corals living in turbid environments, except for the most extremely turbid conditions. This may be genetically based variation and suggests that these corals are adapted sensu stricto to higher turbidity levels.
Reference : Bak, R.P.M. and E.H. Meesters in Moosa, M.K., S. Soemodihardjo, A. Soegiarto, K. Romimohtarto, A. Nontji, Soekarno and Suharsono (ed.). Proceedings of the Ninth International Coral Reef Symposium, Bali. 23-27 Oct. 2000. Vol. 1:265-272
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