Soft corals found in the West Philippine Sea and Benham Bank are among the most diverse in the world, according to an international study published in Nature Scientific Reports in May.

The study, titled “Biodiversity and biogeography of zooxanthellate soft corals across the Indo-Pacific,” analyzed more than 4,000 soft coral samples gathered from biodiversity and museum collections and surveys conducted in over 40 countries and territories between 1998 and 2023. 

Samples from the Philippines were collected between 2019 and 2021 through multiple research projects, from various locations, including the Kalayaan Island Group, western Palawan, Pangasinan, Puerto Galera (Oriental Mindoro), northeastern Philippines, and Benham Bank in the Philippine Rise.

The Philippine collections were led by Dr. Jue Lalas during his time at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP MSI), with assistance from researchers Rhea Luciano and Christine Segumalian. 

The efforts were part of the Interactions of Marine Bionts and Benthic Ecosystems (IMBiBE) Laboratory, headed by Dr. Maria Vanessa Baria-Rodriguez, who is also a co-author of the study.

“The samples from the Philippines were major representatives for the Coral Triangle region,” said Dr. Jue Lalas in a statement.

“The paper shows that the Philippines, including the West Philippine Sea and Benham Bank in northeastern Philippines, is part of one of the centers of zooxanthellate soft coral diversity,” he added.

The study used genetic techniques to uncover patterns of soft coral diversity across the Indo-Pacific. 

It identified the Indo-Australian Archipelago and the Western Indian Ocean as major centers of soft coral species richness, while also highlighting the Philippines, particularly the West Philippine Sea and Benham Bank, as a critically important local hotspot.

Environmental indicators

Lalas highlighted the importance of soft corals as indicators of environmental change, especially amid the impacts of climate change. 

“In some disturbed sites in the Indo-Pacific, some studies have reported a shift to the dominance of soft corals. They have been generally reported to have high resilience to disturbances. However, soft corals may also eventually be subjected to mortality if stressors persist,” he said.

“Overall, soft corals can serve as useful indicators of environmental disturbances. Ongoing research continues to shed light on their ecological roles in coral reefs amid global and local changes,” he added.

Future prospects

Lalas expressed optimism about the future of soft coral research in the Philippines. 

“We have yet to explore their diversity in most of the Philippine seas. This represents an opportunity for coral reef scientists in different parts of the country,” he said.

Lalas noted that much of the country’s soft coral biodiversity remains undocumented.

“We have undoubtedly underestimated numbers of species for these taxa,” he added.

Despite their abundance, he pointed out that soft corals are still relatively understudied in the country.

“There are just very few papers on soft corals in the Philippines, despite them being obviously dominant components of Philippine coral reefs,” he said. 

He attributed this research gap to the limited scientific attention.

“One of the reasons for this is just the lack of people working on this group, as compared to hard corals,” he added.

To help fill this gap, Baria-Rodriguez and her team at the IMBiBE lab have been training local researchers on soft coral taxonomy and identification.

Since 2019, they have conducted multiple training sessions with experts and university partners to improve the understanding of soft coral distribution and ecology in the Philippines.