title: Homogeneity of coral reef communities across 8 degrees of latitude in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea.
abstract: Coral reef communities between 26.8 °N and 18.6 °N latitude in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea were surveyed to provide baseline data and an assessment of fine-scale biogeography of communities in this region. Forty reefs along 1100 km of coastline were surveyed using depth-stratified visual transects of fish and benthic communities. Fish abundance and benthic cover data were analyzed using multivariate approaches to investigate whether coral reef communities differed with latitude. A total of 215 fish species and 90 benthic categories were recorded on the surveys. There were no significant differences among locations in fish abundance, species richness, or among several diversity indices. Despite known environmental gradients within the Red Sea, the communities remained surprisingly similar. The communities do, however, exhibit subtle changes across this span of reefs that likely reflect the constrained distributions of several species of reef fish and benthic fauna.
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: may.roberts@kaust.edu.sa.
authors.forename: May B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Munday
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Neale
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thorrold
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Vanessa S N
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Robitzch
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Berumen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development*; D002965:Classification; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005399:Fishes / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development*; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D019156:Indian Ocean; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry
keywords: Benthic cover; Biogeography; Coral reef fishes; Dissimilarity; Red Sea