Three common sampling techniques in Pleistocene coral reefs of the Red Sea: A comparison

Line Intercept Transects (LIT), Point Intercept Transects (PIT) and Photoquadrats (PQ) are the most common quantitative sampling techniques in modern and fossil coral reefs. Data from coral reefs obtained by the different methods are generally compared between various reef ages and localities. Quaternary reefs from warmer interglacial periods, which represent climate scenarios projected for the future, are particularly interesting for comparisons with modern reefs. Importantly, fossil reefs differ from modern reefs because they are diagenetically altered and time-averaged. While several studies have compared different quantitative methods in modern reefs, very few have dealt with the comparability among fossil and between fossil and modern reefs. Here, we compare LIT, PIT at 10-, 20- and 50-cm intervals and PQ in two Pleistocene reef localities in Egypt. We find that alpha diversity, reef cover and community composition are dependent on the method. Results gained with plotless methods (..., ,