中国海洋的珊瑚-珊瑚礁:南海中央区珊瑚-珊瑚礁生物多样性特征

Coral-coral reefs in China seas:the biodiversity characteristics of coral-coral reefs in the central South China Sea

珊瑚是地球上最古老的原住民,具有近6×108年的发育史,弱势群居、喜温和原地长成是珊瑚的基本特征。作者介绍了珊瑚-珊瑚礁的基本特征,综述了跨十年调查的研究区珍贵照片资料和相关认识,指出中国是全球主要的珊瑚-珊瑚礁国家,地位举足轻重;珊瑚-珊瑚礁作为地球生物多样性的代表,造岛、固礁、护鱼、防护岛岸流失,形成南海四大群岛280余座岛、礁、滩、沙,所构建庞大海洋生态系统是无与伦比的海洋生态资源和寸土寸金的南海海洋国土。提出划分南海珊瑚-珊瑚礁为中央区和周缘区2个分布区,阐述了南海中央区珊瑚-珊瑚礁的基本特征,系统汇集报道了间隔10年2个科考航次调查在浅水礁盘浮潜、至20 m水深浅潜-深潜和礁盘及开展岛、礁、滩、沙地质调查的发现,包括科学定名46种六放石珊瑚和6种八放软珊瑚等成果,同时,收集了西沙、中沙、东沙和南沙群岛海域的相关调查航次珊瑚照片;进一步阐述了单体环礁和复合环礁的特征及分布,并进行了初步对比,指出永乐环礁是南海唯一一个真正的切合达尔文模式的环礁,也是环礁发展到最高阶段的产物,构成现代海洋珊瑚-珊瑚礁形成演化研究最好的天然实验室。

Coral is the oldest aboriginal residents on the earth,with a nearly 600 million years evolution history.As the master of the sea,it is characterized by poor social status,favoring the warm environment and in situ growth.The biodiversity of the coral ecosystem exceeds that of the tropical rain forest ecosystem.In this paper,the basic characteristics of coral-coral reef are briefly introduced,and the precious photos and relevant understandings of coral-coral reefs in the research area investigated over the past decade are summarized.It is pointed out that China is a major coral-coral reef country and plays an important role in the world.Coral-coral reef as a representative of the earth’s biological diversity,has created islands,solidified reef,protected fishes and protected island from erosion,which result in the formation of four large islands and more than 280 small islands in the South China Sea.The reefs,beaches and sands of coral-coral reefs related islands have built an incomparable marine ecological resources and increased the China territory in the South China Sea.The authors put forward two distribution areas of coral-coral reef in the South China Sea,the central area and the peripheral area.The basic characteristics of coral-coral reef in the central area are described.The paper systematically reports the findings of snorkeling in shallow reefs,shallow dives to 20 m depth in water,deep dive reef investigation,and the geological surveys of islands,reefs,shoals and sand,including the scientific naming of 46 species of hexagonal corals and 6 species of octagonal soft corals.At the same time,coral photos of Xisha,Zhongsha,Dongsha and Nansha Islands were collected to reveal the characteristics and distribution of single atoll and compound atoll.A preliminary comparison between these atolls is also carried and suggested that the Yongle Atoll is the only truly Darwinian atoll in the South China Sea,and it is the product of the highest stage of atoll development,which makes it a best natural laboratory for the research on the formation and evolution of modern marine coral-coral reef.