A Preliminary Assessment of Fish and Coral Communities on Reefs of the Dampier Archipelago

During the initial AIMS survey of coral and fish communities within the Dampier Archipelago, 24 sites, chosen to be represenatative of the diverse range of habitats in the region, were visited. At each site, fish and coral communities were quantitatively sampled using standardised techniques used widely in the Great Barrier Reef and in the Ningaloo Reef survey. Visual surves at the sites indicate that many sites had been subjected to significant recent storm damage. Large massive coral colonies were overturned and previously luxuriant Acropora beds were reduced to rubble banks.在澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（Australian Institute of Marine Science, AIMS）针对丹皮尔群岛（Dampier Archipelago）内珊瑚与鱼类群落开展的首次调查中，研究人员选取了24个可代表该区域多样生境类型的站点并完成实地考察。各站点均采用在大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef）与宁格鲁礁（Ningaloo Reef）调查中广泛应用的标准化技术，对鱼类与珊瑚群落进行定量采样。现场目视调查结果显示，多数站点近期遭受了严重风暴破坏：大型块状珊瑚群落被掀翻，此前长势繁茂的轴孔珊瑚（Acropora）床已沦为碎石滩。