Long-term Fluctuations of the Environments Surrounding Coral Reef Regions

Abstract

Recently, it is exposing coral reef region in Japan to the crisis of the extinction by effects of breaching with the rise in the seawater temperature and effects by the artificial load from the land, etc. Especially, high water temperatures resulted in damage to the coral in Japan's Okinawa prefecture during the worldwide coral bleaching event of 1998. Therefore, it has been indicated that died out coral reef must be artificially recovered. Coral reef region has the important role as an environment (growth field of egg and larvae and tourist attractions, etc.) in the coastal zone, as well as seaweed bed and tidal flat.

In this study, it carried out the analysis long-term fluctuation of natural and social environment which surrounds coral reef regions, on Sekisei lagoon (around Ishigaki Island) and Okinawa Island (around Sesokojima Island), using the existing data, and it examined response and relevance between they environmental factors.