Southeast Asia
259
Chapter 10
Southeast Asia
Southeast
Asia, with its complex coastline
and mass of tightly interlocking islands,
straddles the worlds greatest zone of
coral reef biodiversity. Although reef development is rather restricted in a few areas,
notably the Gulf of Thailand and the southern coastline
of mainland China, for the most part coral reefs are
well developed and numerous. Fringing reefs line the
coasts of myriad islands, including many of the larger
ones, and parts of the mainland. There are also
extensive, though often poorly known barrier reefs,
while in the deeper waters of the South China Sea and
towards the east of the region there is a considerable
number of oceanic atolls.
There is a great paucity of information about
many areas. Barrier reefs off the coastline of Sumatra,
Sulawesi and Palawan as well as the reefs off
tvtyanmar and eastern Indonesia have received little
attention from the scientific community.
It has been suggested that biodiversity may have
remained, or even accumulated, in this region at the
same time that Pleistocene extinctions were occurring
in other parts of the world. This is an area which
maintained a relatively equitable climate for coral reef
development right through the last glaciation, possibly
providing a refuge for numerous species. At the same
time the massive fluctuations in sea level may have
isolated pockets of coral reef diversity, allowing
evolution to follow different paths so that, when
species reunited, they had diverged, further adding
to their diversity. Whatever the causes, this region
harbors more species in almost every group of coral
reef organism than any other part of the world.
Unfortunately its reefs also face considerable
difficulties, with some 82 percent estimated to be
threatened by human activities in the recent Reefs at
Risk report.
Burgeoning human populations are overutilizing
the resources In many areas, while wholesale destruction of the forests on land, together with rapid
urbanization. Is leading to massive loads of sediments
and pollution on many reefs. While scientists may have
little information about these reefs, most are well
known to fishermen, and even the most remote reefs
are threatened by overfishing and, particularly, by
destructive fishing practices.
Left: Southeast Asia harbors the highest levels of biodiversity of any coral reef region. Here the l
259
Chapter 10
Southeast Asia
Southeast
Asia, with its complex coastline
and mass of tightly interlocking islands,
straddles the worlds greatest zone of
coral reef biodiversity. Although reef development is rather restricted in a few areas,
notably the Gulf of Thailand and the southern coastline
of mainland China, for the most part coral reefs are
well developed and numerous. Fringing reefs line the
coasts of myriad islands, including many of the larger
ones, and parts of the mainland. There are also
extensive, though often poorly known barrier reefs,
while in the deeper waters of the South China Sea and
towards the east of the region there is a considerable
number of oceanic atolls.
There is a great paucity of information about
many areas. Barrier reefs off the coastline of Sumatra,
Sulawesi and Palawan as well as the reefs off
tvtyanmar and eastern Indonesia have received little
attention from the scientific community.
It has been suggested that biodiversity may have
remained, or even accumulated, in this region at the
same time that Pleistocene extinctions were occurring
in other parts of the world. This is an area which
maintained a relatively equitable climate for coral reef
development right through the last glaciation, possibly
providing a refuge for numerous species. At the same
time the massive fluctuations in sea level may have
isolated pockets of coral reef diversity, allowing
evolution to follow different paths so that, when
species reunited, they had diverged, further adding
to their diversity. Whatever the causes, this region
harbors more species in almost every group of coral
reef organism than any other part of the world.
Unfortunately its reefs also face considerable
difficulties, with some 82 percent estimated to be
threatened by human activities in the recent Reefs at
Risk report.
Burgeoning human populations are overutilizing
the resources In many areas, while wholesale destruction of the forests on land, together with rapid
urbanization. Is leading to massive loads of sediments
and pollution on many reefs. While scientists may have
little information about these reefs, most are well
known to fishermen, and even the most remote reefs
are threatened by overfishing and, particularly, by
destructive fishing practices.
Left: Southeast Asia harbors the highest levels of biodiversity of any coral reef region. Here the l