Dominance of a coral community by the genus Porites (Scleractinia)

Abstract

The genus Porites is a major component of many coral communities on inshore continental shelf reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. On the leeward margin of Pandora Reef, 7 species of massive Porites physically dominate the coral community. The populations of commoner species are themselves dominated, demographically and genetically by a few persistent genotypes. Five % of colonies contain 52 % of skeletal CaC03; 9 % of colonies have 50 % of living tissues. The largest colony is at least 677 yr old. Genotypic ages of tissues may be considerably greater, since colonies appear to form clones by fragmentation.