SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Conservation and Sustainability
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1578377
The evolution of coral reef monitoring in eastern Arabia: trends, gaps, and opportunities for the ROPME Sea Area
Provisionally accepted- 1University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
- 2Mubadala Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences (Mubadala ACCESS), New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem in eastern Arabia, which includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and Western Arabian Gulf, an area collectively known as the ROPME Sea Area under UN convention. However, regional reefs are under growing threat from global climate change to local population-related pressures. This systematic review provides the first region-wide assessment of coral reef monitoring efforts, identifying 105 publications spanning almost four decades. Findings highlight a variety of research motivators, a diverse and evolving range of methods, and the inclusion of both citizen science and governmental projects alongside conventional scientific research. However, large disparities in monitoring efforts are evident between the countries as well as a concerning lack of international collaboration despite the transboundary nature of many regional coral reef stressors. The prevalence of short-term 'snapshot' studies and one-off authors also indicate the absence of a strong, continuous local research presence, undermining long-term conservation efforts. Most concerning is the recent decline in the volume of monitoring-related studies, both within scientific institutions and across multi-party projects, with research instead diverted to more novel areas of coral reef research. Given the ongoing regional reef decline, it is essential that monitoring efforts continue to grow, incorporating large-scale, long-term studies in order to accurately assess reef status and trends and assist in conservation.
Keywords: Systematic review, citizen science, time series, conservation, Management
Received: 17 Feb 2025; Accepted: 05 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gower, Hadj-Hammou and Burt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hannah Gower, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.