Abstract:
Annual density banding pattern in massive Porites corals changes with the
differences of environmental condition. Alizarin red dye was used to validate the
deposition of skeleton by corals to determine the banding pattern. The banding pattern
for Porites corals in Port Dickson was validated where the accretion of bright
luminescent band started on October. The samples were then calculated for the banding
and linear growth of the corals. The breadth of annual luminescent band was measured
up to 0.01 cm accuracy for the linear growth rate. The linear extension rate range from
0.95 ± 0.01 cm yr1
to
3.42 ± 0.01 cm yr-'. All the samples showed no significant
changes except for coral core PD-H showed significant negative growth (P<0.05). This
was due to the low numbers in samples. The changes of growth in corals were closely
related to the increase of SST. However, no significant changes were observed for the
4 decade records. The relationship of linear extension rate with SST was explored
through linear regression and the statistic showed that there was no relationship
between the two variables (P>0.05). However, it was suggested that the growth of
Porites corals in Port Dickson was highly affected by sedimentation due to the high
input of sediment, a result from the rapid development along the coastlines.
