Preferences in Habitat of Dominant Fish Species in Masbat Bay, Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt

Johanna ist Biologiestudentin an der Universität Hamburg. Seit mehreren Jahren arbeitet sie als Divemaster an einer Tauchschule in Brasilien und leistet dort Aufklärungsarbeit im Hinblick auf Naturschutz der Meere. Die praktische Erfahrung wird unterstützt von dem Studium, in dem Johanna unter anderem Kurse in den Bereichen Fischereibiologie und mariner Biodiversität belegen konnte. Im „Red Sea Environmental Centre“ in Dahab arbeitet sie zurzeit an Ihrer Bachelorarbeit und untersucht die Habitatpräferenzen dominanter Fischarten in der Masbat Bay, Südsinai, Dahab.

Andreas, 23 jahre alt, studiert Ökologie im 6. Semester an der Universität Salzburg, Österreich. Seine Interessen reichen von der Botanik bis zur Meeresbiologie, mit der er sich während seines 10 wöchigen Aufenthalts in El Quseir intensiv beschäftigen will. Er ist begeisterter Taucher und Schnorchler und möchte viele Menschen vom schützenswerten Charakter der tropischen Korallenriffe überzeugen und sie über deren Bedrohungen durch Tauchtourismus, Müllprobleme, Klimaveränderung und Versauerung der Ozeane informieren.

Neben den Aufgaben die als Volontär zu erledigen sind will er in seiner Bachelorarbeit die cryptobenthischen Fische der El Quadim Bucht untersuchen. Diese kleinen Fische, die versteckt am Meeresgrund und zwischen Korallen leben, werden oft von Wissenschaftlern wie auch Hobbytauchern übersehen, obwohl sie für das Ökosystem Riff eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Es besteht die Möglichkeit neue Arten zu entdecken und diese Arbeit soll die Basis für weitere wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen über diese wenig beachteten Fische bilden.

The Prey Catching Behavior of the Lionfish Pterois miles.

“Ecological stability of mollusc communities of Indo-Pacific Quaternary coral reefs.”
Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems, but they are also fragile and they are potentially very sensitive to sea level fluctuations and current climatic changes. Nevertheless mollusc communities, as scleractinian corals, seems to experience little change in spite of the dramatic climatic changes of the Quaternary with glaciations and high sea level fluctuations (till 140m under current sea level). The aim of this study is to test this hypothesis in comparing modern data to the Holocene and Pleistocene fossil record, focusing on community ecology: evolution of the composition of the communities, research of extinct species, modification of the geographic range of species, change in ecological behaviours etc.

Title of scientific project:
“The defecation behaviour of Ctenochaetus striatus”

"The feeding and defecation behaviour of the surgeonfish Ctenochaetus striatus was described in detail from reef patches inside the Ras Mohammed National Park (South Sinai). The fish feed on coral rock mainly by sweeping loose sediment with their flexible broom like teeth into their mouths. Feeding occurred exclusively on coral rock, but defecation took place only outside the grazing area above sand in small, precisely defined areas. Now we are going to investigate the fish's behaviour and spatial distribution on a fringing reef far from Ras Mohammed in El Quseir.

Natural and Influenced Behaviour of Dugong dugong in Abu Dabab in Marsa Alam, a Popular Dive Site in Egypt.

Results
Altogether the Dugong came into the bay on 18 out of 27 days. The average time spent in the bay by the Dugong was 6,4 (± 2,6) hours. 96,9% of the dives during underwater observations were foraging dives, during 3,1% he was resting or swimming on the bottom. The dive time averaged 296 (± 61) s (range 58-526 s), while the forage time averaged 273 (± 66) s (range 30-460 s). Forage times were about 21 (± 12) s shorter than dive times. The mean dive/forage depth was 7,3 (± 1,6) m (Figure 1). The Dugong made about nine (± 1,2) dives per hour. Altogether the Dugong spent an average of 78,8% of one hour deeper than 1,5 m under the surface, while 21,2% of one hour were spent within 1,5 m at the surface. Between dives the Dugong took a mean of 3,4 (± 1,4) breaths. Mostly he took two short breaths (1-2 s) followed by a longer third one (3-4 s) as he performed the forward roll to dive almost at right angle to the bottom. The intervals between the breaths averaged 28,6 (± 10) s. The mode of surfacing was in 98% of the cases horizontal even when weather conditions
were rough.

Study of some aspects of the biology, ecology and diversity of species of Porcellanidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea.

The species of the family Porcellanidae Haworth 1825 are distributed in tropical regions of all seas, and typically occupy hard substrates of the littoral and sublittoral zones. While the porcellanids of the American tropical seas have been extensively studied, there are still many knowledge gaps regarding the species of the Indo-West-Pacific, including the Red Sea. Lewinsohn (1969, 1974) described 14 species from the Red Sea, and further 3 species are being reported in an ongoing publication by colleagues of my research group (Werding & Hiller, in preparation).