K. Venkataraman

Bleaching: The Driving Force of Scleractinian New Recruitment at Little Andaman Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Peak bleaching of corals was seen in 2010 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The results were observed as adverse impacts on the reef environment. Little Andaman Island is the southern-most part of Andaman group of Islands. The continental shelf of this island showed a limited number of scleractinian corals as new recruitment at the destroyed reef areas after the 2004 tsunami. Only 34 species of hermatypic corals were reported in 2009. Consecutive underwater survey and experimental outcome reveals that 124 species of scleractinian corals were identified from the same areas after the mass bleaching effect. The presence of species composition of the study area is near about 4 times higher than the study which was made on newly recruited corals after tsunami. Bleaching was the only giant event which occurred in between 2009 and 2012, considered as the prime regulator for the new recruitment of scleractinians. The Shannon–Weaver’s species diversity index of the study area ranges from 5.09 to 6.00, Simpson’s species density index varies from 0.94 to 0.97 whereas the Pielou’s evenness index shows the results in between 0.93 and 0.98. The present paper depicts the species composition, diversity, density and evenness at post bleaching state to signify the constructive role of bleaching towards the settlement of new scleractinian coral life on the preceding places.