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Coral Reefs of the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean

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Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories

Part of the book series: Coral Reefs of the World ((CORW,volume 4))

Abstract

Coral cover throughout the Chagos archipelago is high. Coral and soft coral mortality was very severe in 1998, along with most of the ocean, but there are no direct human impacts so that soft coral and coral cover is as high as it was before the massive mortality episode. There is a very low incidence of coral disease, and there are no recorded marine invasive species, a condition which is unprecedented in coral seas. The area contains between 25 and 50 % of the reefs in the Indian Ocean in very good condition, and the area has the largest contiguous area in the world of reefs in such a state. Reasons for the good condition of Chagos reefs are likely to include remoteness from compounding human activities, but also strongly light adapted ‘Clade A’ zooxanthellae may contribute: these occur in approximately half of the shallow water Acropora colonies which are now recovering strongly. Another contributing factor may be the regular incursions of deep, cool water that rise to cover reefs, including during annual periods of greatest warming. These reefs are viewed as a ‘baseline’ or reference point for many other coral rees in the Indian Ocean.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Administration of the British Indian Ocean Territory for permission to visit the area on various occasions, the military Commanders and personnel for much assistance on site, and to the Officers and crew of the BIOT Patrol Vessel Pacific Marlin for exceptional help on all visits to atolls away from Diego Garcia. The OTEP fund provided core funds for most visits, and all scientists involved received funding from numerous sources to carry out their own programmes of work in the archipelago. Some of this material was published previously in Sheppard et al. (2012) and is reproduced with permission of Wiley & Sons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbit Hill Campus, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK

    Charles R. C. Sheppard, Mebs Ateweberhan & Anne L. S. Sheppard

  2. Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, N7 9DP, London, UK

    Alasdair Harris

  3. Biodiversity Research Centre, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Allen C. Chen, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Shakil Visram & Sung-Yin Yang

  4. Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, NW1 4RY, London, UK

    Rachel Jones

  5. IUCN Marine Programme, Rue Mauverney 28, Gland, 1196, Switzerland

    Carl Lundin

  6. CORDIO East Africa, #9 Kibaki Flats, Kenyatta Beach, Bamburi Beach, 10135, Mombasa, 80101, Kenya

    David Obura

  7. National Coral Reef Institute, Nova Southeastern University, Oceanographic Center, 8000 North Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL, 33004, USA

    Sam Purkis & Bernhard Riegl

  8. 71 Badminton Road, SW12 8BL, London, UK

    Peter Raines

  9. Oceanographic Research Institute, 10712, Marine Parade, Durban, 4056, South Africa

    Michael H. Schleyer

  10. UNEP Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, UN, Rajdamnern Nok Av, Bangkok, 10200, Thailand

    Jerker Tamelander

  11. School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, LL59 5AB, UK

    John R. Turner

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  1. Charles R. C. Sheppard
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Correspondence to Charles R. C. Sheppard .

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    Charles R.C. Sheppard

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Sheppard, C.R.C. et al. (2013). Coral Reefs of the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean. In: Sheppard, C. (eds) Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5965-7_18

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