title: A continuous, real-time water quality monitoring system for the coral reef ecosystems of Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan.
abstract: The coral reef ecosystems of Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan are undergoing degradation due to anthropogenic impacts, and as such have resulted in a decline in coral cover. As a first step in preventing the continual degradation of these coral reef environments, it is important to understand how changes in water quality affect these ecosystems on a fine-tuned timescale. To this end, a real-time water quality monitoring system was implemented in Nanwan Bay in 2010. We found that natural events, such as cold water intrusion due to upwelling, tended to elicit temporal shifts in coral spawning between 2010 and 2011. In addition, Degree Heating Weeks (DHWs), a commonly utilized predictor of coral bleaching, were 0.92 and 0.59 in summer 2010 and 2011, respectively. Though this quantity of DHW was below the presumed stress-inducing value for these reefs, a rise in DHWs in the future may stress the resident corals.
authors: National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Marine Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.
authors: Kwee Siong
authors: KS
authors: Tew
authors: National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Marine Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.
authors: Ming-Yih
authors: MY
authors: Leu
authors: Department of Biotechnology, Tajen University, Pingtung 907, Taiwan.
authors: Jih-Terng
authors: JT
authors: Wang
authors: National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.
authors: Chia-Ming
authors: CM
authors: Chang
authors: Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 116, Taiwan. Electronic address: ccchen@ntnu.edu.tw.
authors: Chung-Chi
authors: CC
authors: Chen
authors: National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Marine Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan. Electronic address: pjmeng@nmmba.gov.tw.
authors: Pei-Jie
authors: PJ
authors: Meng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D061006:Bays; D057894:Coral Reefs; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D012621:Seasons; D013624:Taiwan; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Coral reefs; Online/real-time seawater quality monitoring system; Seawater quality