Rozirwan^1,2 , D. G. Bengen¹ , N. P. Zamani¹ , H. Effendi¹ ,  Chaidir³

1. Program Study of Marine Science, Bogor Agricultural University, Kampus Darmaga, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
2. Program Study of Marine Science, University of Sriwijaya, Kampus Indralaya KM 32, Ogan Ilir, Sumatera Selatan 30662, Indonesia
3. The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, Jakarta code pos10340, Indonesia
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 65   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0065
Received: 22 Jul., 2014    Accepted: 18 Aug., 2014    Published: 10 Nov., 2014

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Rozirwan et al., 2014, The differences of soft corals spatial distributions between sheltered and exposed sites at Pongok Island in South of Bangka and Tegal Island in Lampung Bay, Indonesia, India, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.4, No.65 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0065)

This study is aimed to determine the differences of the soft corals between sheltered and exposed area in Pongok Island, Soulth of Bangka and Tegal Island in Lampung Bay, Indonesia. The physical-chemical parameters of waters were measured in the field and laboratorium. Soft coral types and covers were measured using line intercept transect (LIT) and quadrant transects methods. Eigtht types of soft corals classified in four genera (Lobophytum, Nephthea, Sarcophyton and Sinularia) were found in both sites, six species were identified in the waters of South Bangka (at 9 meters depth) and two species (at 3 meters depth). In Tegal Island waters (closed waters), only 3 speciesfrom the genus Sinularia were recorded (at 2-5m depth). There were 2 stations at Pongok Island namely, PGK1 and PGK2, while in Tegal Island, there were 4 stations namely MCN1, TGL2, GSN3 dan LHK4. Coral diversity was considered as medium category, similarity indexes were low to moderate, except at PGK2 station was considered high, and for the level of dominance, there were no type of coral that dominates. Principal component analyses showed that both waters can be classified based on their physical-chemical characteristic, which were turbidity, temperature, depth, currents, phosphate, nitrate and substrate type.

Coral Biodiversity; Soft corals; Pongok Island; Tegal Island