Margoluis. 2001. A systematic test of an enterprise strategy for community-based biodiversity conservation. Cons. Biol. 15: 1585–1595. Schla¨pfer, F., B. Schmid, and I. Seidl. 1999. Expert estimates about effects of biodiversity on ecosystem processes and services. Oikos 84: 346–352.
Schwartz, M.W., C.A. Brigham, D.J. Hoeksema, K.G. Lyons, H.M. Mills, and P.J. van Mantgem. 2000. Linking biodiversity to ecosystem function: implications for conservation ecology. Oecologia 122: 297–305.
Smith, R.L.. and T.M. Smith 2000. Elements of Ecology. Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco.
Stattersfield, A.J., M.J. Crosby, A.J. Long, and D.C. Wege. 1998. Endemic Bird Areas of the World: Priorities for Conservation. BirdLife International, Cambridge.
Statzner, B., and B. Moss. 2004. Linking ecological function, biodiversity and habitat: a mini-review focusing on older ecological literature. Basic Appl. Ecol. 5: 97–106.
Strivastava, D.S., and M. Vellend. 2005. Biodiversity-ecosystem function research: is it relevant for conservation? Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 36: 267–94.
Supriatna, J. 1999. The Irian Jaya Biodiversity Conservation Priority-setting Workshop. Conservation International, Washington, D.C.
Tansley, A.G. 1935. The use and abuse of vegetational concepts. Ecology 16: 284–307.
Terborgh, J. 1999. Requiem for Nature. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Thébault, E., and M. Loreau. 2003. Food-web constraints on biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., U.S. 100 (25): 14949–14954.
Tilman, D. 1999. Diversity and production in European grasslands. Science 286: 1099–1100.
van Schaik, C.P., K. Monk, and J.M.Y. Robertson. 2001. Dramatic decline in orang-utan numbers in the Leuser ecosystem, northern Sumatra. Oryx 35: 14–25.
van Woesik, R. 2004. Comment on ‘‘Coral reel death during the 1997 Indian Ocean dipole linked to Indonesian wildfires.’’ Science 303: 1297.
Whittaker, R.H. 1970. Communities and Ecosystems. Collier-Macmillan, London.
Whitten, T., D. Holmes, and K. MacKinnon. 2001. Conservation biology: a displacement behavior for academia? Conserv. Biol. 15: 1–3
Woinarski, J.C.Z., O. Price, and D.P. Faith. 1996. Application of a taxon priority system for conservation planning by selecting areas which are most distinct from environments already reserved. Biol. Cons. 76: 147–159.
World Bank 2001. Indonesia: Environment and Natural Resource Management in a Time of Transition. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Young, E.H. 1999. Balancing conservation with development in small-scale fisheries: is ecotourism an empty promise? Human Ecol. 27: 581–620.
Marshall, A. J., and Beehler, B. M. (eds.). 2006. The Ecology of Papua. Singapore: Periplus Editions.
5.2. The Ecology of Papuan Coral Reefs
DOUGLAS FENNER
CORAL REEFS are structures in shallow ocean water built at least in part by corals, but often with major contributions from coralline algae and green calcareous algae. Coral reefs are composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) produced by living organisms. Reefs range in size from small patches a few meters in diameter to the largest structure on earth built by living organisms, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, which is about 2,000 km long, covers an area of about 128,000 km2, and contains about 2,500 individual reefs. Coral reefs can also be very thick. At Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, a hole was drilled through over 1,400 m of coral rock before reaching the underlying volcanic rock. Thus, some reefs are major geological features of planet earth. The coral rock near the bottom of the coral at Enewetak was found to be 65 million years old, indicating that some coral reefs are also very old.
Three of the most widely recognized coral reef shapes are the fringing reef, barrier reef, and atoll. A fringing reef grows along the shore of a landmass, much like a fringe along the edge of a coat. A barrier reef parallels a coastline, with a lagoon between the barrier reef and the shore. These lagoons are relatively shallow (about 10–50 m deep) and usually have a sandy bottom. Barrier reefs are named because if they are continuous and reach the surface, they are a barrier to navigation. An atoll is a ring of coral with no land other than some low sand islands within the ring of coral. The center of the atoll is a lagoon. Other reef shapes include bank or platform reefs where an offshore reef does not reach the surface, and patch reefs, which are small patches of coral in lagoons. There are a wide variety of other shapes and intermediates between categories as well (e.g., Andréfouët 2004; Guilcher 1988; Hopley 1982; Tomascik et al. 1997).
Evolution of Reefs
Charles Darwin proposed a theory of the evolution of coral reefs (Darwin 1842; Tomascik et al. 1997). He proposed that coral reefs begin as fringing reefs, then become barrier reefs, and finally become atolls. Darwin’s theory applied to volcanic islands. He suggested that after an oceanic volcano erupts and builds an island, fringing coral reefs will grow around the shoreline of the volcanic island and that the island will then slowly subside or sink. As the island sinks, the reef will grow upward, and if it can grow upward as fast as the island sinks, eventually the reef will be separated from the island by a lagoon. The reef will then be a barrier reef, and the reef will mark the location of the original shoreline of the island. Eventually the island will sink under water and out of sight under the lagoon sand. The result is an atoll (Figure 5.2.1). Darwin knew that the way to test his theory was to drill into an atoll. He predicted that the drill would reach volcanic rock under the coral. The technology to drill such a deep hole was not available in his time, but eventually atolls such as Enewetak were drilled and volcanic rock was found underneath the coral rock, confirming Darwin’s hypothesis. The full sequence of evolution of coral reefs can be seen in Hawai’i, where the Big Island has an erupting volcano and fringing reefs. Small barrier reefs can be found on older islands such as Oahu and Kaui, and the oldest islands (which are found in the northwestern Hawai’ian Islands) are all atolls (Grigg 1982, 1997; Scott and Rontondon 1983)
Figure 5.2.1. Schematic diagram of the creation of a coral atoll. Charles Darwin proposed that fringing reefs growing on volcanic islands changed over time to produce barrier reefs and ultimately formed coral atolls. See text for details.
Papuan Reefs
Papua Province has many fringing reefs, some barrier reefs, and very few atolls. So, for instance, in the Raja Ampat Islands, reefs are mostly fringing or platform reefs with 36 fringing reefs and nine platform reefs reported in one study (Mc-Kenna, Boli, and Allen 2002). Several maps show coral reefs in the Raja Ampat Islands at the west end of Papua, around the islands in and along the western shore of Cenderawasih Bay, on the south shore roughly across from Cenderawasih Bay, and around the Aru Islands south of the main landmass (UNDP/FAO 1988; Spalding, Ravilious, and Green 2000; Burke, Selig, and Spalding 2002). The south coast of the Vogelkop Peninsula has narrow fringing reefs, with 450 km of coastline suitable for reefs. Tomascik et al. (1997) list nine barrier reefs in Papua, totaling 601 km in length and having an area of 2,366 km2. They also list one atoll in Irian Bay, nine in the Halmahera Sea, and five in the Pacific Ocean.
The extent of coral reefs in Papua may be underestimated due to the assumption that coral reefs cannot live along coasts that have mangroves. The muddy shorelines
