*2.4. Diversity of Coral Species*

Underwater photographs were taken during the surveys at each site and were used to aid morphological taxonomic identification of coral species. In addition, as far as practicable, corals were identified in the field to genus level based on morphological characters following the Indo-Pacific Coral Finder Tool Kit [42]. Subsequently, traditional diagnostic features such as corallite wall structure, the presence of paliform lobes, verrucae, valleys, and columella, and other colony characters (as described in the Corals of the World by Veron [43]) were used for species discrimination. Species diversity, dominance, and evenness indices were calculated based on the numbers of species recorded along the transect lines [44].
