Baseline of Hong Kong coral communities: Substrate composition and growth form

Despite their ecological and economic importance, there are no detailed substrate composition data for coral communities in Hong Kong. Under the support of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, we conducted comprehensive field surveys in 2017 to quantify coral community composition across 33 sites in Hong Kong. At each site, we quantified coral community composition by identifying corals down to the genus level. In addition, we deployed sediment traps to quantify sedimentation rate as well as several nutrient parameters (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter deposition rates) that are known to affect coral community development elsewhere. Our study showed that coral cover varied greatly between 11% and 79% across the study sites, with 15 sites having high coral cover (> 50%). Among the 33 sites, 30 were dominated by only a few genera, especially the Platygyra carnosa and Porites spp., and Pavona decussata. Only 2 sites were dominated by the branching corals Acropora spp. The substrate composition and growth form as well as the correlation between coral community structure and sedimentation and nutrient deposition rates will be presented. Copyright © 2019 ICMPE-9.