Lophelia reefs of North and West Africa–Comparing environment and health
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Date
2023
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Marine Biology
Abstract
The health status of cold-water coral reefs on the West African coast was investigated with the main objective of obtain ing knowledge of the adaptive capacity of Lophelia pertusa to environmental stressors. Three coral sites were studied, in
Northern Morocco, in the Morocco/Mauritania region (both in 2020) and, in the Ghana and Ivory coast region (visited in
2012, 2017, and 2019). Area cover of live colonies, explored through underwater videos, was used as an indicator of reef
health and compared with the environmental variables: reef position, depth, water mass, temperature, dissolved oxygen con centration (DO), carbonate chemistry (pH, aragonite saturation (ΩAr), macronutrients and particles (visual). For a broader
picture of the adaptations presented by Lophelia our results were compared with reefs in contrasting environments. Of
Ghana and Mauritania healthy reefs (i.e., having areas with more than 20 % cover of live colonies) were found to reside at
DO concentrations between 1.1 and 1.6 ml L−1, in corrosive waters (pH 7.7 and ΩAr 1.0) with high nutrient concentrations.
By contrast, the reefs of the North of Morocco, sitting in well-oxygenated waters with oversaturated ΩAr, had no or few
live colonies. Our fndings together with data from other studies show that Lophelia has a wide tolerance to hypoxia and
acidifcation, and that in relation to climate change increased temperature and silting could pose more serious threats. These
fndings highlight the importance of continued studies of Lophelia reefs in contrasting environmental conditions to better
understand their adaptation potential to climate change-related stressors
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Cold-water coral, Lophelia, West Africa