Schuhmacher, H., Loch, K., Loch, W., and See, W. R., 2005. The
aftermath of coral bleaching on a Maldivian reef –
a quantitative study. Facies, 51, 85–97.
Spencer Davies, P., Stoddart, D. R., and Sigee, D. C., 1971. Reef
forms at Addu Atoll, Maldive Islands. In Stoddart, D. R., and
Yonge, M., (eds.), Regional Variation in Indian Ocean Coral
Reefs. London: Academic Press, pp. 217–259.
Stoddart, D. R. (ed.), 1966. Reef studies at Addu Atoll, Maldive
islands. Atoll Research Bulletin, 116, 122 p.
Stoddart, D. R., 1973. Coral reefs of the Indian Ocean. In Jones,
O. A., and Endean, R. (eds.), Biology and Geology of Coral
Reefs. Geology I. New York: Academic Press, pp. 51–92.
Stoddart, D. R., and Yonge, M. (eds.), 1971. Regional Variation in
Indian Ocean Coral Reefs. London: Academic Press, 584 p.
Woodroffe, C. D., 2005. Late Quaternary sea-level highstands in the
central and eastern Indian Ocean: a review. Global and Planetary Change, 49, 121–138.
Zinke, J., Reijmer, J. J. G., Taviani, M., Dullo, W. C., and
Thomassin, B., 2005. Facies and faunal assemblage changes in
response to the Holocene transgression in the lagoon of Mayotte
(Comoro archipelago, SW Indian Ocean). Facies, 50, 391–408.
Zinke, J., Reijmer, J. J. G., and Thomassin, B. A., 2001. Seismic
architecture and sediment distribution within the Holocene barrier reef-lagoon complex of Mayotte (Comoro archipelago, SW
Indian
Ocean).
Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology, 175, 434–368.
Cross-references
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Eastern Caribbean Coral Reefs
Holocene Reefs: Thickness and Characteristics
Maldives
Pacific Coral Reefs: An Introduction
Tsunami
Western Atlantic/Caribbean, Coral Reefs
Western Indian Ocean
INDONESIAN REEFS
Terry Done
Australian Institute of Marine Science, QLD, Australia
Definition
The Republic of Indonesia comprises >17,500 islands,
straddling the equator in Southeast Asia. Its total land area
is around 2 million km
2
, its territorial seas cover about 3.6
million km
2
, its living coral reefs are estimated to cover
$50,000 km
2 , and fossil reefs are commonplace across
the archipelago.
Introduction
Indonesia is a vast nation with more enclosed seas than
any other on earth. Straddling the equator (from 6
N to
11
S) over a north–south distance of 2,210 km
(Figure 1a), about the same as the length of the Great
Barrier Reef and three times the length of the UK), the
country extends 5,271 km from east to west (almost 1 ½
times the distance from New York to Los Angeles).
Indonesia’s total land-sea area is $4,573,400 km
2
,
comprising 42% land and 58% sea. The coastline – against
which many coral reefs lie – is 95,000 km long (Tomascik
et al., 1997), about 45 times longer than Australia’s Great
Barrier Reef. Total coral reef area has been estimated at
51,000 km
2 (about twice that of the Great Barrier Reef ),
excluding subsurface reefs and those in remote areas that
have not been mapped (Burke et al., 2002). Indonesian seas
include 960,000 km
2 of shelf seas <200 m deep (mainly in
the west) and 1,694,000 km
2 of deep seas (Dahuri et al.,
2009), mainly in the east, but also to the west and south
of the narrow shelves bordering the island arc from Sumatra
to Nusa Tengarra (Figure 1a). Together, these deep and
shallow seas afford a wide range of environments for reef
development and populations of coral reef species, from
shallow sheltered bays to deep swell-exposed outer slopes
(see entry Corals: Environmental Controls on Growth).
There are also large sections of Indonesia’s coasts and
seas from which coral reefs are absent. These are of two
general types. The first are those sheltered shallow areas
facing the inner shelf that are too muddy for corals and thus
for the development of coral reefs. The second are a number
of long sections of Indian-Ocean-facing coasts, along
which corals can be found, but from which major reef
development is excluded, probably by extreme wave forces
(Spalding et al., 2001). In addition to the present environmental diversity, the effects of eustatic sea-level changes
and high tectonism contribute to the diversity of form and
biotic composition of Indonesia’s coral reefs (Hutomo
and Moosa, 2005). Four major tectonic plates meet in
Indonesian seas (Australian, Eurasian, Philippines, and
the Pacific; Figure 1b), and the consequent high levels of
volcanism and seismicity have great significance for the
size, development, and morphology of Indonesia’s coral
reefs, both fossil and modern.
The main focus of this entry is physical geography –
the extent, distribution, and types of coral reefs, and the
variability of their environmental settings and historical
drivers. In Indonesia, people are important drivers of living reef condition and productivity: much of Indonesia’s
population of more than 250 million people lives close
to reefs, harvests reef resources (food, building materials
(Figure 3)), and modifies reef habitat and water quality
through dredging and land-use in adjacent catchments.
The people–reef interaction is the focus of much research,
management, and conservation attention (Nontji, 2002;
Anon, 2009).
Biodiversity
Indonesia is at the center of the “Coral Triangle”
containing Earth’s greatest biodiversity of marine life
(e.g., 76% of all corals; 37% of all coral reef fishes and
similar proportions of other marine life, Hoeksema,
2007; Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2009). The greatest diversity of corals and fishes occurs in the deeper seas of Eastern Indonesia on the Pacific Plate (“Wallacea”) (see entry
East Indies Triangle of Biodiversity), which is where the
most Indo-West Pacific species show overlaps in their
594
INDONESIAN REEFS
aftermath of coral bleaching on a Maldivian reef –
a quantitative study. Facies, 51, 85–97.
Spencer Davies, P., Stoddart, D. R., and Sigee, D. C., 1971. Reef
forms at Addu Atoll, Maldive Islands. In Stoddart, D. R., and
Yonge, M., (eds.), Regional Variation in Indian Ocean Coral
Reefs. London: Academic Press, pp. 217–259.
Stoddart, D. R. (ed.), 1966. Reef studies at Addu Atoll, Maldive
islands. Atoll Research Bulletin, 116, 122 p.
Stoddart, D. R., 1973. Coral reefs of the Indian Ocean. In Jones,
O. A., and Endean, R. (eds.), Biology and Geology of Coral
Reefs. Geology I. New York: Academic Press, pp. 51–92.
Stoddart, D. R., and Yonge, M. (eds.), 1971. Regional Variation in
Indian Ocean Coral Reefs. London: Academic Press, 584 p.
Woodroffe, C. D., 2005. Late Quaternary sea-level highstands in the
central and eastern Indian Ocean: a review. Global and Planetary Change, 49, 121–138.
Zinke, J., Reijmer, J. J. G., Taviani, M., Dullo, W. C., and
Thomassin, B., 2005. Facies and faunal assemblage changes in
response to the Holocene transgression in the lagoon of Mayotte
(Comoro archipelago, SW Indian Ocean). Facies, 50, 391–408.
Zinke, J., Reijmer, J. J. G., and Thomassin, B. A., 2001. Seismic
architecture and sediment distribution within the Holocene barrier reef-lagoon complex of Mayotte (Comoro archipelago, SW
Indian
Ocean).
Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology, 175, 434–368.
Cross-references
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Eastern Caribbean Coral Reefs
Holocene Reefs: Thickness and Characteristics
Maldives
Pacific Coral Reefs: An Introduction
Tsunami
Western Atlantic/Caribbean, Coral Reefs
Western Indian Ocean
INDONESIAN REEFS
Terry Done
Australian Institute of Marine Science, QLD, Australia
Definition
The Republic of Indonesia comprises >17,500 islands,
straddling the equator in Southeast Asia. Its total land area
is around 2 million km
2
, its territorial seas cover about 3.6
million km
2
, its living coral reefs are estimated to cover
$50,000 km
2 , and fossil reefs are commonplace across
the archipelago.
Introduction
Indonesia is a vast nation with more enclosed seas than
any other on earth. Straddling the equator (from 6
N to
11
S) over a north–south distance of 2,210 km
(Figure 1a), about the same as the length of the Great
Barrier Reef and three times the length of the UK), the
country extends 5,271 km from east to west (almost 1 ½
times the distance from New York to Los Angeles).
Indonesia’s total land-sea area is $4,573,400 km
2
,
comprising 42% land and 58% sea. The coastline – against
which many coral reefs lie – is 95,000 km long (Tomascik
et al., 1997), about 45 times longer than Australia’s Great
Barrier Reef. Total coral reef area has been estimated at
51,000 km
2 (about twice that of the Great Barrier Reef ),
excluding subsurface reefs and those in remote areas that
have not been mapped (Burke et al., 2002). Indonesian seas
include 960,000 km
2 of shelf seas <200 m deep (mainly in
the west) and 1,694,000 km
2 of deep seas (Dahuri et al.,
2009), mainly in the east, but also to the west and south
of the narrow shelves bordering the island arc from Sumatra
to Nusa Tengarra (Figure 1a). Together, these deep and
shallow seas afford a wide range of environments for reef
development and populations of coral reef species, from
shallow sheltered bays to deep swell-exposed outer slopes
(see entry Corals: Environmental Controls on Growth).
There are also large sections of Indonesia’s coasts and
seas from which coral reefs are absent. These are of two
general types. The first are those sheltered shallow areas
facing the inner shelf that are too muddy for corals and thus
for the development of coral reefs. The second are a number
of long sections of Indian-Ocean-facing coasts, along
which corals can be found, but from which major reef
development is excluded, probably by extreme wave forces
(Spalding et al., 2001). In addition to the present environmental diversity, the effects of eustatic sea-level changes
and high tectonism contribute to the diversity of form and
biotic composition of Indonesia’s coral reefs (Hutomo
and Moosa, 2005). Four major tectonic plates meet in
Indonesian seas (Australian, Eurasian, Philippines, and
the Pacific; Figure 1b), and the consequent high levels of
volcanism and seismicity have great significance for the
size, development, and morphology of Indonesia’s coral
reefs, both fossil and modern.
The main focus of this entry is physical geography –
the extent, distribution, and types of coral reefs, and the
variability of their environmental settings and historical
drivers. In Indonesia, people are important drivers of living reef condition and productivity: much of Indonesia’s
population of more than 250 million people lives close
to reefs, harvests reef resources (food, building materials
(Figure 3)), and modifies reef habitat and water quality
through dredging and land-use in adjacent catchments.
The people–reef interaction is the focus of much research,
management, and conservation attention (Nontji, 2002;
Anon, 2009).
Biodiversity
Indonesia is at the center of the “Coral Triangle”
containing Earth’s greatest biodiversity of marine life
(e.g., 76% of all corals; 37% of all coral reef fishes and
similar proportions of other marine life, Hoeksema,
2007; Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2009). The greatest diversity of corals and fishes occurs in the deeper seas of Eastern Indonesia on the Pacific Plate (“Wallacea”) (see entry
East Indies Triangle of Biodiversity), which is where the
most Indo-West Pacific species show overlaps in their
594
INDONESIAN REEFS