Guo, J.; Yu, K.; Wang, Y.; Xu, D.; Huang, X.; Zhao, M.; Yang, H., and Zhang, R., 2017. Nutrient distribution in Coral Reef degraded areas within Sanya Bay, South China Sea.

An investigation was conducted in August 2014 to explore the spatial distribution of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and phosphate ( ) in overlying water, pore water, and surface sediment from Sanya Bay and living coral cover on Luhuitou fringing reef. Generally, nutrient contents gradually decreased from the estuary to the central bay, which confirmed that terrigenous inputs from Sanya River and Sanya Harbor were the primary nutrient sources. The results of K-means cluster analysis suggested the Luhuitou fringing reef is in danger of being affected by the pollution source. The results of nutrient diffusive fluxes at the sediment-seawater interface indicated diffusion from pore water to overlying water. Compared with other coral reef areas around the world, nutrient levels in Luhuitou fringing reef were at the medium level. Significant correlation between temporal variation of nutrients and living coral cover was not found, which suggests that low nutrient enrichment, ranging from 1.89 to 2.89 μmol/L for DIN and from 0.1 to 0.49 μmol/L for , may not be responsible for the coral reef decline on Luhuitou fringing reef from 2002 to 2014.