Beneath a blue sky unadulterated by a single cloud, a ship embarks from Houbi Lake Harbor in Kending. Twenty minutes of leisurely cruising later it has reached its destination, an independent reef that appears like a solitary underwater mound that is Kending's foremost scuba attraction. A couple of divers in full scuba gear plunge into the water one at a time behind the instructor's lead and slowly descend using the ship's anchor cable as a guide.

The sun hitting the clear blue sea diffuses into a halo of underwater light, creating a scene of ethereal splendor. A moment later the reef's peak-some 50 or 60 meters in height-comes into focus. As one descends along the peak, the initial fear of the abyss is overwhelmed by the vivid, variegated splendor of the underwater world.

Bright multihued tropical fish dart about busily amongst the craggy rocks of the reef. Corals of every shape line the reef wall: Alcyonaria (soft corals) sway to the current looking like flowers draped by a fuzzy, longhaired carpet, branch-shaped or bracket-fungus-shaped Acropora corals crop up in every corner, and sea fans crowned with fanlike branches silently endure the potent current. Sea lilies spread fernlike leaves that dance about lithely. Sea urchins in their spiky armor take cover in holes, and transparent little Sakura shrimp act like bashful children. There are also myriad other creatures of the depths: sea sponges, clams, crabs, various echinoderms, and an infinite variety of seaweed.

No one who has experienced firsthand the effervescence of the coral kingdom can come away unimpressed. In fact, for many marine scholars seeing the dynamic splendor of life beneath the waves was the seminal experience that decided the course of their professional lives. For the nationally renowned late marine biologist R.T. Yang, a former professor at National Taiwan University's Institute of Oceanography, the experience was so utterly absorbing that, in his words, "Once I dive into the water I become a fish." Taiwan's preeminent coral expert, Dai Chang-feng, finds his work as fresh as ever even after traversing the reefs for 30 years, and in 2009 he distilled his lifelong research into Taiwan's first illustrated coral omnibus.

Dai Chang-feng has spent 30 years amongst the reefs. In 2009 he distilled his lifelong research into Taiwan's first illustrated coral omnibus.

Current scholarly estimates put the number of species whose sustenance and propagation depends on coral reefs at a minimum of 30,000, including more than 3000 fish species alone. For this reason the reefs have been called "the rainforests of the ocean." They comprise the world's most complex and abundant ecosystem. According to Dai Chang-feng, coral reefs have existed on earth for more than 100 million years. Numerous theories have been advanced to explain their emergence and complexity, but scholars all agree that coral reefs provide ample food and shelter resources for their dependent organisms.

A coral reef is like a multi-layered forest, a complex three-dimensional structure with tree-like branches of different dimensions, clumps that look like bushes, flower-like sacs, and oddly shaped cracks in the coral stones. Other living creatures attach themselves to it and use it as a residence and shelter, from sedentary or slow moving bottom dwellers like sea stars, sea urchins, and snails, to cave inhabitants like lobsters and eels, to fish that make the rounds in the waters above the reef, to anchorless plankton and various symbiotic and parasitic organisms. "It's like a metropolis: you have a random layering of buildings and homes of various heights that accommodate a dense population," says Dai.

Shelter alone is insufficient to support such a complex network of living creatures-there must also be ample food resources. Coral reefs are home to myriad so-called "primary producers," such as the unicellular dinoflagellate Symbiodinium algae that reside within the body of the coral itself and produce via photosynthesis nutrients for the coral. Large algae varieties that abide on the surface or periphery of the reefs efficiently produce food for other organisms, giving rise to an extensive web of creatures including plankton feeders, graminivorous animals, and large and small carnivores.

world is full of miraculous beauty.

"Unstable ecosystems are what enables coral reefs to support such diverse life," Dai explains. What happens over a long period of time in more stable ecosystems is that stronger, better adapted life forms multiply more rapidly, edging out and eventually eliminating their weaker neighbors. But since coral reefs mostly inhabit shallower waters closer to the shore (reef-building corals cannot survive in water deeper than about 30 meters), they are susceptible to the occasional typhoon or strong ocean current, as in the case of 2009's Typhoon Morakot, which pounded Taiwan's southern coast, causing Kending's offshore coral cover (the portion of sea floor covered by live coral) to fall by nearly half. Such intermittent events prevent any one species from consolidating its dominance, which in turn permits the coexistence of so many diverse life forms within so dense an area.

Coral reefs are some of the oldest ecosystems on the planet, flourishing as early as 200 million years ago. Their inhabitants have evolved over eons to be specifically adapted to the nutrients and physical environment, preventing excessive interspecies competition and encouraging extreme diversity.

Colorful and vibrant, coral reefs are nurse and mother to some 30,000 species, yet they only occupy a mere 0.2% of the ocean floor. Taiwan only claims 500 square kilometers of the Earth's approximately 700,000-plus square kilometers of coral reef, but this area's relatively small size belies its tremendous diversity; the fact that it is home to 300 different coral species places it in the rarified company of Australia's 2600-kilometer-long, 344,000-square-kilometer Great Barrier Reef.

As an example of Taiwan's incredible coral resources, consider the following story: A scholar who had studied Acropora coral in the Great Barrier Reef came on a research trip to Taiwan. After one hour amongst the Tiaoshi Reef off the coast of Kending he had seen-to his great delight-no less then 30-40 species of Acropora, whereas his expeditions at the Great Barrier Reef typically yielded only five or six species.

Taiwan is home to 300 reef-building coral species and nearly 100 soft coral species. From left to right are porites coral, sun coral, chalice coral, and mushroom coral.

"Taiwan's remarkable coral diversity results from a combination of ocean currents and typhoons," says Dai. Taiwan is situated just north of the so-called "Coral Triangle," an expanse of ocean spanning the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia that possesses the greatest coral diversity. The Kuroshio Current that surges northward from the equator as well as northbound currents in the South China Sea convey an inexhaustible supply of coral and other organisms' spawn up to the coast of Taiwan. That combined with the "helping hand" of Taiwan's frequent typhoons, which keep would-be dominant species in check, thereby allowing other species to thrive, accounts for why such a relatively small marine area could come into possession of a biological bounty so vast and varied.

It's hard to believe that Taiwan's marine heritage was largely neglected until about 30 years ago, and research still lags far behind the study of land species. Taiwan's leading coral specialist, Dai Chang-feng found his niche purely by chance.

Back in 1979, the government designated Kending as Taiwan's first national park. At the same time, work began on Taiwan's first nuclear power on the coast of Kending. The government needed to compile research on and monitor coral reefs, and Dai, just entering the Graduate Institute of Oceanography at NTU, was selected by his instructor R.T. Yang to join the research team.

"I was really clueless at the time, but then again, so were all the teachers," he reflects. During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, coral fossils were the only thing that garnered any attention. After the ROC government relocated to Taiwan, renowned geologist Ma Ting-ying investigated coral skeletons, but only did so to buttress his theories on continental drift. Once NTU established its Institute of Oceanography in 1970, coral scholars from the University of Hawaii and the University of Guam assisted with the first field research into Taiwan's coral possessions. But the American experts only left behind several hundred specimens with only scant supporting literature and diagrams to make any sense of them. With no alternatives available, he was forced to bring coral skeletons and Latin taxonomy classifications with him on diving expeditions in order to identify via comparison the live contents of the reefs.

Taiwan is home to 300 reef-building coral species and nearly 100 soft coral species. From left to right are porites coral, sun coral, chalice coral, and mushroom coral.

The specimens that Dai had available were completely white without any of the Symbiodinium species that lend coral their color. As a result, they all looked very much alike, increasing the difficulty in comparing the skeletons with living coral. Then, after toiling for many years, he realized that the practically half the information on Taiwan coral provided by the Guam specialists was flawed. He turned first to the work of Australian and then Japanese experts, and after 20 years of labor compiled a complete catalogue of Taiwan's nearly 300 coral species.

After returning to Taiwan from earning his doctorate from Yale University, Dai would often lead research teams to sites around Taiwan to study coral community composition, structure and population ecology.

Community composition simply refers to determining the constituent species of a particular location. For instance, Kending's Banana Bay is predominantly stony coral, while in the area near Maobitou Alcyonaria or soft corals reign supreme, and within Nanwan Bay the composition varies significantly from place to place.

Population ecology refers to how a particular species is faring in its natural environment. Taking into account age and sex composition of a community, scientists collate metrics such as birth, growth, and death rates in order to determine its overall health. If the death rates exceed the birth rates, then the community is in a state of decline, says Dai, and if the opposite is true, then it is growing.

Long years of research and study yielded a comprehensive view of Taiwan's coral. The richest and most abundant coral is concentrated in several regions: the south off the coast of Kending, Green Island and Orchid Island off Taiwan's east coast, Xiaoliuqiu Island off the west coast, and the Dongsha (Pratas) Islands in the South China Sea. The Kuroshio Current is the common thread between all of these locales and the benefactor responsible for the prolific coral. The ocean floor off the west coast is too sandy, and the bedrock too loose for coral to attach itself. The east coast, on the other hand, possesses ideal conditions for coral growth-it is in the pathway of the Kuroshio Current, the water quality is good, and the temperature perfect-but the ocean floor tapers too precipitously and some of the currents are very forceful, making coral growth there tenuous.

"Basically, if you study any of Taiwan's coral communities for 10 years or longer, it's always a pattern of decline, which is consistent with the global picture," says Dai. As an example he points to a project that he initiated in the early 1990s along with National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium researcher Fan Tung-yung in which they began monitoring coral communities off Mao'ao on the northeast coast. The first three to five years revealed a stable community, but recent reports show that it has been almost entirely replaced by algal species as a result of rapid human encroachment in the area.

In 1997, coral scholar Gregor Hodgson of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology proposed a global survey of coral health dubbed "Reef Check." Part of the work was grassroots, as scuba divers were enlisted to facilitate the survey. The purpose of the project was to investigate how human behavior affects coral reefs and use the findings as a basis for conservation policy. That year Taiwan was one of 31 participating nations that investigated 300 coral sites, uncovering together results that unfortunately pointed to a grave future for the world's coral.

Taiwan is home to 300 reef-building coral species and nearly 100 soft coral species. From left to right are porites coral, sun coral, chalice coral, and mushroom coral.

The purpose of Reef Check is threefold: to ascertain the rate of coral coverage, determine the biotic index to determine the type and population of local organisms, and to identify harmful elements in the environment.

The researchers first designate two areas to survey, one of deep water and one of shallow. Using a 50-meter-long transect line with quadrats at every 25 centimeters, they record the frequency of all coral, algae, sea sponges, gravel, and deceased coral; in other words, they collect 200 distinct substratum samples, which they can use to calculate the degree of coral coverage, with 50-75% considered excellent, 25-50% acceptable, and below 25% poor.

More than being a mere indicator of quantity, a coral reef's biotic index further doubles as a benchmark of its overall state of well-being. The research process also includes taking a census of the fish and invertebrate species within five meters on both sides of the transect line. The types of fish are sole, sweetlips, grouper, and bumphead parrotfish; the invertebrates include Sakura shrimp, long-spined black sea urchin, crown-of-thorns starfish, and lobster. Each species has a quota that is considered healthy: for sole more than five, sweetlips more than one, and grouper more than 0.5, all relative to a 100 square-meter area.

A similar process is used for investigating insidious elements. Researchers check for pollutants such as trash and sediment in a five-meter band on either side of the line. They also look for human interference evidenced by anchors, nets, and blast fishing.

Taiwan's 2009 Reef Check data was released in November. The results showed that of 16 scuba spots in six reef regions, 12 had coverage of less than 37.5%, an unsatisfactory number. More unsettling, however, was that Xiaoliuqiu Island and Orchid Island have seen their coverage decline from 50% 10-20 years ago to less than 25%. In every region, none of the fish species (with the exception of sole) were found to be at acceptable levels, a clear indicator of overfishing in reef areas.

"Taiwan's overfishing problem has gone on unmitigated for the past several decades," Dai laments. Though overfishing is rife in coral reefs throughout the planet, the problem is particularly intractable in Taiwan, where so many have an incurable weakness for seafood. Declining fish populations could upset the ecological balance in coral reefs, making it difficult for them to self-regulate. At that point, outside forces such as natural disasters or human pollutants could spell potential doom.

The November, 2009 data is the latest in what has been an ongoing downward trend the last 10 years. A glance at a line graph of the data shows even Taiwan's four most developed coral regions, with the notable exception of Kending, to be in a state of decline.

Of Taiwan's four coral reef strongholds, Kending is in the best shape, thanks to its superior recuperative powers. Dai says that Typhoons Morakot and Parma obliterated perhaps half of the coral on the western side of the Hengchun Peninsula, reducing the coverage at Kending's Nanwan reef to 20%, down from 60%. Yet, Kending is blessed with exceptional resilience thanks to its fortuitous position as a receptacle for the Coral Triangle materials driven northward by Kuroshio's jets, and also to the open sea and unfettered currents that make it difficult for pollutants to linger in the area.

He estimates that most of the Kending reefs will be able to recover in two to five years time. Only places with slower growth rates like Hejie are in more serious straits, and may take as long as 10 years to fully recover.

Natural disasters are admittedly beyond the powers of humankind to control; but 80-90% of coral bleaching comes as a result of human despoilment.

In addition to overfishing, another major threat to coral reefs is water pollution. Dai elaborates that from 1991 on, coral coverage in the Kending region began a gradual decline. The culprit was the promotion of tourism, which led to the completion of a shoreline road and a proliferation of homestays. The environment was not properly maintained and rain washed prodigious amounts of mud into the ocean. Not only did the mud cover the coral, but sunlight could not penetrate the turbid water, which in turn made it impossible for the reefs' resident Symbiodinium algae species to conduct photosynthesis. The outcome was bleaching of a severity far exceeding that caused by the outflow of warm water from the nearby nuclear plant.

Another major source of pollution is sewage from homestays and restaurants. Kending presently only has two sewage plants, hardly adequate to deal with the amount of waste created. As a result, large quantities of untreated waste are dumped into the ocean, and organic matter containing nutrient salts over-nourishes the algae, which in turn suffocates the coral and results in bleaching.

Fortunately, this conservancy crisis has aroused many to take action.

In 2005, Kenting National Park established the Houbi Lake Marine Resource Conservation Area. Thanks to diligent enforcement on the part of the authorities the coverage rate in that area returned to 50% and "even the fish came back!" says Dai. Surveillance was installed so that the police would be able to apprehend anyone in violation of the ban on line or blast fishing and the gathering of shells and sea urchins. Within two years the bumphead parrotfish, one of the signature large fish species long absent from the region, made an astonishing return. So impressive were the results that another conservation area was created at Tiaoshi in 2008.

Perched over geometric radiant knob corals, a goby watches vigilantly for its prey.

With consciousness raised by the recent Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, many have commented on the relationship between global warming and coral reefs. Scientists estimate that if temperatures continue to rise unabated, 60% of the world's coral will vanish by 2050. Once coral disappears, the hundreds of millions of people around the world dependent on fishing will face food shortages and their attendant social unrest. Without the protective screen that coral reefs offer, shorelines will undergo unremitting pelting from the ocean which will gradually erode the land, forcing residents to relocate. The extinction of coral reefs would shake the global food chain from the roots on up.

"In fact, "coral reefs are already under imminent threat of extinction," warns Chen Chaolun, a researcher at Academia Sinica's Biodiversity Research Center. He goes on to say that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is currently at around 390 parts per million, dangerously close to the 450 ppm tipping point that is the death knell of the entire coral reef ecosystem, and the rate at which this concentration is rising appears to be accelerating. The fate of the corals today may well be the fate of humankind tomorrow, and the key to whether these fragile and complex ecosystems can regain their splendor lies in all our hands. Are we ready to act?

If the Symbiodinium algae that reside within coral and give them their color are lost, the phenomenon of coral bleaching occurs, which in the long term can result in coral death.