Fig 1.
(A) Locations of the study sites along the Kenyan coast divided into three geographical zones in the, (B) North (red), (C) Central (blue) and (D) South (green). Ocean base map credits- Esri, Garmin, GEBCO,NGDC, and other contributors.
Fig 2.
Principle Coordinate analysis (PCoA) analyses of (A) major benthic communities (B) coral genera and (C) coral size classes. Clusters of 38 reef sites based on Bray–Curtis index. Different colours differentiate sites based on the geographical zone (red = north, blue = central, green = south).
Table 1.
Summary of study sites at three geographical zones.
Site habitat characteristics (depth, exposure, reef type) and management level including their corresponding number of transects surveyed for each benthic community along the Kenyan coast.
Fig 3.
Summary of benthic community variables by geographic zone.
Mean percentage cover of five major benthic cover categories, four coral genera and density (number of colonies per 100m2) of four coral size classes for north (upper, red), central (middle, blue) and south (lower, green) geographic zones. Error bars indicate standard error.
Table 2.
ANOVA test on variation of benthic communities across three geographical zones.
Results of One-way ANOVA test done to determine variation of key benthic communities across the 3 geographical zones.
Table 3.
PERMANOVA test on the effect habitat factors and management contributing to the differences in benthic communities.
Fig 4.
Principal Coordinate analysis (PCoA) of key benthic communities.
Clusters of 38 reef sites based on Bray–Curtis index. Embedded in each quadrant of the PCO is interpretation of the habitat factors and management levels associated with the clustering of sites.