Hyacinth N. Suarez, Danilo T. Dy, Renante R. Violanda
Black corals or antipatharians (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) are abundantly found in the waters (depths of 15-40 m) of Jagna, Bohol, Central Philippines. However, inaccessibility due to SCUBA depth limitation has discouraged researchers from documenting the ecological role of antipatharians in hosting associated macrofauna. The study, conducted in August-September 2013 and February 2014 at 15-40 m depth, compared the density of macrofauna between whip and branching black corals among different colony sizes, across six sampling sites and different depth ranges. Each colony size of black corals was determined by writing a script under LabVIEW. Of the forty colonies observed (eight branching and 32 whip types), 68% (or 27 colonies) hosted associated macrofauna. Eighteen macrofauna taxa belonging to six phyla were identified: Porifera, Cnidaria (Anthozoa), Mollusca (Gastropoda and Bivalvia), Echinodermata (Crinoidea), Arthropoda (Cirripedia) and Chordata (Ascidiaceae and Actinopterygii). The average density of macrofauna ranged from 82 to 8,313 individuals/m 2 , with counts ranging from 1 to 74 individuals. The crinoids were found to be the most abundant with 243 individuals and a density of 166 individuals/m 2 . By generating data using Monte Carlo simulation and comparison by student t-test at 95%, p=0.05, a significant difference in the density of macrofauna between whip and branching black corals was found. However, there was no significant difference between density of macrofauna and sampling stations, depth, and colony size (Spearman R correlation and Kruskal-Wallis test; 95%, p=0.05). This lack of statistical difference suggests higher within group variance than between group variance. Black corals should be protected in the entire study site to promote biodiversity at depths and in areas not inhabited by scleractinian corals. © 2015, Science and Technology Information Institute. All rights reserved.
Natural Science and Math Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Holy Name University, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines; Department of Biology, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines; Department of Physics, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
