Repercussions of embarkation wharves in Lakshadweep Islands on coral communities and their ecology

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;="" mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="">Present study infers that the construction of embarkation wharves in four of the Lakshadweep islands (Agatti, Amini, Kavaratti and Minicoy) in the last 5 years was accompanied by a marked degradation of coral community structure and coral biodiversity. Reduction in live coral percent cover was significant, from 31% to 4.69% in Agatti, 24% to 5.92% in Minicoy, 22% to 3.49% in Amini and 30.5% to 4.4% in Kavaratti, with a simultaneous rise in the percent cover of other abiotic components. Species diversity of corals dominated by the massive reef-building corals was lost, affecting the structure and stability of the reef at these sites. Resilience potential of the reef became poor due to the monospecific colonization of corals belonging to very few genera like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Pocillopora </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> Montipora.</i> Reduction in coral cover and its diversity endangered the strength of the reef frame in the activity site and enhanced its vulnerability to the natural stress or calamities.</span>