Coral Triangle

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The Coral Triangle is a geographical term referring to the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste that contain at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ecoregion. ^[1] This region encompasses portions of two biogeographic regions: the Indonesian-Philippines Region, and the Far Southwestern Pacific Region. ^[2] The Coral Triangle is considered to be the global epicenter of marine biodiversity, ^[3] and a global priority for conservation. ^[4] For this reason, WWF considers the region as a top priority for marine conservation, and the organization is addressing the threats it faces through its Coral Triangle Program,^[5] launched in 2007.

Contents 1 Biodiversity 2 Threats 3 Conservation 4 Delineation 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biodiversity

More than 3,000 species of fish live in the Coral Triangle, including the largest fish - the whale shark, and the coelacanth. It also provides habitat to six out of the world’s of seven marine turtle species.

Reef building corals ^[1]

• The Coral Triangle comprises the highest coral diversity in the world: 76% (605) of the world’s coral species (798).
• The highest coral diversity is found in the Bird’s Head Peninsula of Indonesian Papua, which hosts 574 species (95% of the Coral Triangle, and 72% of the world’s total). Within the Bird’s Head Peninsula, Raja Ampat is the world’s coral diversity bull’s eye with 553 species.
• The Coral Triangle has 15 regionally endemic coral species, and shares 41 regional endemic species with Asia. Regional centers of endemism in the Coral Triangle include the Sulu Sea and North Lesser Sunda Islands/Savu Sea in Indonesia, and Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea.

Coral Reef fishes^[6]

• The Coral Triangle has the highest diversity of coral reef fishes in the world: 37% (2,228) of the world’s coral reef fish species (6,000), and 56% of the coral reef fishes in the Indo-Pacific region (4,050).
• 8% (235 species) of the coral reef fishes in the Coral Triangle are endemic or locally restricted species. Within the Coral Triangle, four areas have particularly high levels of endemism (Lesser Sunda Islands, Papua New Guinea – Solomon Islands, Bird’s Head Peninsula, and Central Philippines).

The reasons provided for the Coral Triangle’s high levels of biodiversity include:

• A theory that the region is a major center of origin for coral reef species, from where species originated and dispersed to other locations in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Overlapping or accumulation of faunas from the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
• Geological processes, with coral reef species evolving and persisting during low sea level events, demonstrating the resilient and enduring nature of these reefs during prior periods of climate change.

The large area and extraordinary range of habitats and environmental conditions have played a major role in maintaining the staggering biodiversity of the Coral Triangle.^[7]

Table coral	Pink soft coral	Nembrotha kubaryana	Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus)
Parrotfish	Harlequin ghost pipefish	Anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris)	White eyed moray eel (Gymnothorax thrysoideus)

[edit] Threats

The biodiversity and natural productivity of the Coral Triangle are under threat from poor marine management (including coastal development, and overfishing and destructive fishing), lack of political will, poverty, a high market demand and disregard for rare and threatened species, and climate change. An estimated 120 million people live within the Coral Triangle, of which approximately 2.25 million are fishers who depend on healthy seas to make a living. These threats are putting at risk livelihoods, economies and future market supplies for species such as tuna.^[8] Studies have highlighted the alarming decline of coral cover in this region.^[9]

[edit] Conservation

The Coral Triangle is the subject of high-level conservation efforts by the region's governments, nature conservation organizations such as WWF, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, and donor agencies such as USAID. In May 2009, the six Coral Triangle Governments launched a Regional Plan of Action for the next decade adopted at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Indonesia. This is the most detailed plan for ocean conservation ever seen and the fruit of an ambitious partnership—the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security founded in December 2007 in Bali.^[10]

[edit] Delineation

The primary criteria used to delineate the Coral Triangle were:

• High species biodiversity (more than 500 coral species, high biodiversity of reef fishes, foraminifera, fungid corals, and stomatopods) and habitat diversity
• Oceanography (currents)

There is considerable overlap between the boundaries of the Coral Triangle that are based primarily on high coral biodiversity (more than 500 species), and the boundaries based on the area of greatest biodiversity for coral reef fishes.^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Coral Triangle Photo Expedition Blog
• Coral Triangle Initiative - Secretariat
• The Nature Conservancy - Coral Triangle Center
• WWF Coral Triangle Programme - international website
• WWF Coral Triangle Programme - US website

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