60-582: Ko Tao ( Thai : เกาะเต่า , pronounced [kɔ̀ʔ tàw] , lit. ' 'Turtle Island' ' ) is an island in Thailand and is part of the Chumphon Archipelago on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand . It covers an area of about 21 km (8 sq mi). Administratively it is a subdistrict ( tambon ) of Ko Pha-ngan District ( amphoe ) of Surat Thani Province . As of 2006, its official population
120-411: A dialect continuum . Thai language is spoken by over 69 million people (2020). Moreover, most Thais in the northern (Lanna) and the northeastern (Isan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects because Central Thai is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media. A recent research found that the speakers of
180-439: A phytoplankton symbiont, harvested through corallivory into its cerata . After they are incorporated, the zooxanthellae continue to photosynthesize and provide energy for the nudibranch. Corallivory often results in damage to coral or loss of coral biomass , and sometime directly causes coral death. Corals divert energy and resources towards repairing damage, which has shown to suppress additional growth. The ability for
240-551: A second language among the country's minority ethnic groups from the mid-late Ayutthaya period onward. Ethnic minorities today are predominantly bilingual, speaking Thai alongside their native language or dialect. Standard Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages—others being Northern Thai , Southern Thai and numerous smaller languages, which together with the Northwestern Tai and Lao-Phutai languages, form
300-419: A colony's surface, while focused biters bite repeatedly in the same area. At one time, focused biting was thought to be a display of territoriality in parrotfish , but was later determined to be for food. Out of all of the kinds of corallivores, excavators are thought to have the biggest impact on coral reef communities due to the large amount of coral and skeleton consumed. Additionally, studies suggest that
360-638: A coral to repair itself is partially based on the size of the lesion; since not all damage can be healed, superfluous damage can result in permanent change to the reef. Corals have shown to energetically prioritize repairing damage over reproducing, so corallivory can have a negative effect on coral reproduction . Additionally, studies have shown that grazing by corallivores can be associated with reduced zooxanthellae densities. Scientists believe that excessive fishing of predators to corallivores, like large piscivorous fish, may result in an increase in corallivore abundance. This increase in corallivory may have
420-533: A four-way distinction among stops and affricates . The maximal four-way occurred in labials ( /p pʰ b ʔb/ ) and denti-alveolars ( /t tʰ d ʔd/ ); the three-way distinction among velars ( /k kʰ ɡ/ ) and palatals ( /tɕ tɕʰ dʑ/ ), with the glottalized member of each set apparently missing. The major change between old and modern Thai was due to voicing distinction losses and the concomitant tone split . This may have happened between about 1300 and 1600 CE, possibly occurring at different times in different parts of
480-426: A future negative effect on coral health and density. Corallivory can indirectly cause an increase in growth of competitive organisms, such as algae and sponges . Additionally, some corallivores have been implicated in the spread of coral diseases. Some studies have shown that corallivores can have an influence on the competitive abilities of coral colonies. Corallivory is not always detrimental to coral reefs. If
540-413: A growing number of climbers. Ko Tao has a little over 25 dive sites to explore. Ko Tao is less developed than Ko Samui and Ko Pha-ngan , but has become increasingly popular especially with the mid-20s backpacker crowd in search of relatively inexpensive scuba diving certification. For the past two years the demographics of the island have seen an age increase, with many of the visitors who first visited
600-418: A royal pardon for all prisoners on the island. Everybody was taken to the shore of Surat Thani and Ko Tao was abandoned again. In the 1980s, overseas travellers began to visit Ko Tao and it quickly became a popular destination. In the 1990s the island became known as a diving site. The island is an important breeding ground for hawksbill and green turtles . The development of tourism has negatively impacted
660-484: A storm or just resting before continuing on their journeys. It would appear from old maps and descriptions that this island was known by European cartographers and mariners as "Pulo Bardia", indicating that it was first settled by Malayo-Polynesian peoples. The old maps show a chain of three islands aligned north–south and lying off the east coast of the Malay Peninsula . The most northerly and smallest of these islands
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#1732858859383720-525: A syllable that formerly began with a voiceless consonant (including glottalized stops). An additional complication is that formerly voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates (original /p t k tɕ ʔb ʔd/ ) also caused original tone 1 to lower, but had no such effect on original tones 2 or 3. The above consonant mergers and tone splits account for the complex relationship between spelling and sound in modern Thai. Modern "low"-class consonants were voiced in Old Thai, and
780-427: A wide range of adaptations that facilitate coral consumption. Some butterflyfish have long mouth that they use like forceps to pluck off individual coral polyps and some use their teeth to scrape off coral tissue. Butterflyfish that consume coral have longer intestines than fish that do not consume coral, suggesting that corallivores need more time to process the complex molecules of the coral. The golden pufferfish
840-400: Is Sairee on the west coast, which has a white sandy beach of 1.7 km interrupted only by a few huge boulders and a scattering of medium budget resorts and restaurants. Chalok Baan Khao, to the south of the island, is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative for those wishing to escape the crowds. A great many granite boulders, both in the forests and on the beaches of Ko Tao, attract
900-443: Is a tonal and analytic language . Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers . Spoken Thai, depending on standard sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender, class, spatial proximity, and the urban/rural divide, is partly mutually intelligible with Lao , Isan , and some fellow Thai topolects . These languages are written with slightly different scripts, but are linguistically similar and effectively form
960-408: Is an animal that feeds on coral . Corallivores are an important group of reef organism because they can influence coral abundance, distribution, and community structure. Corallivores feed on coral using a variety of unique adaptations and strategies. Known corallivores include certain mollusks , annelids , fish , crustaceans , flatworms and echinoderms . The first recorded evidence of corallivory
1020-737: Is an important coral browser that feeds by everting its stomach and using its tube feet to spread the stomach over the coral and into the crevices between polyps. Occurrences of high crown-of-thorns star population densities has resulted in documented decimation of large coral reef tracts, with reports of 100% coral mortality in localized areas. It is estimated that one crown-of-thorns star may eat up to 6 square meters (65 sq ft) of live coral per year. The genus Drupella are obligate corallivorous sea snails that specialize on fast growing Acropora and Montipora species. Like crown-of-thorns star, Drupella aggregations have been known to destroy large areas of coral, and have been cited as
1080-523: Is broken down by digestive enzymes . Not all corallivores are detrimental to coral health. Corals with populations of the mucus feeding Tetralia and Trapezia crabs were shown to have a greater chance of survival during an crown-of-thorns star outbreak. Trapezia crabs are known to symbiotically benefit their host coral by cleaning sediment and debris off their surface. Some organisms receive more than nutrition. The nudibranch , Phestilla sibogae , has been known to incorporate zooxanthellae ,
1140-410: Is distributed widely across the tropical oceans, however, is considered a particularly significant corallivore, specifically in the tropical Eastern Pacific. The golden pufferfish uses its beak-like dental plate to feed on the tips of branching corals at an estimated pace of 16 to 20 grams (0.56 to 0.71 oz) of calcium carbonate per 1 square meter (11 sq ft) of live coral per day. Despite
1200-473: Is inadequate. About 42,000 tonnes of solid waste are produced annually on the island, resulting in a 45,000 tonne garbage mountain while the island's waste incinerator sits idle. Ko Tao is one of Thailand's most popular tourist spots. The Bangkok Post has cited its annual visitor count as 132,000 and three million. The island is well known for scuba diving and snorkeling, as well as hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering. The most popular place for tourists
1260-568: Is marked P. Bardia, the name it had until the early 1900s. The best map example is by John Thornton from The English Pilot, the Third Book , dated 1701, but the specific map of the Gulf of Siam is dated around 1677. Also see maps of the East Indies by William Dampier c.1697. By modern standards of accuracy, the islands are poorly placed on early maps. Seventeenth century marine navigation and cartography used
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#17328588593831320-528: The Central Thai , Mon , Lao Wiang , Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand . Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali , Sanskrit , Mon and Old Khmer . It
1380-459: The Northern Thai language (also known as Phasa Mueang or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak Standard Thai, so that they are now using mostly Central Thai words and only seasoning their speech with the "Kham Mueang" accent. Standard Thai is based on the register of the educated classes by Central Thai and ethnic minorities in the area along
1440-559: The Southwestern branch of Tai languages . The Tai languages are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family , which encompasses a large number of indigenous languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Guangxi south through Laos and Northern Vietnam to the Cambodian border. Standard Thai is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout Thailand. The standard is based on
1500-448: The " backstaff " which, in this area, was accurate to one degree of longitude, or around 60 nautical miles. The Edinburgh Gazetteer, or Geographical Dictionary published in 1827 also mentions the island and provides a geographical position. In his 1852 book titled Narrative of a Residence in Siam. by Frederick Arthur Neale, the author describes the people and wildlife of Bardia. According to
1560-503: The 111 described coral genera are known to be consumed by corallivores. Mucus feeders feed exclusively on coral mucus. Coral regularly slough off mucus into the surrounding water, so it is thought that mucus feeding causes no harm to the coral. However, it has been shown to disrupt microbial communities living on the coral. Many mucus feeders have shown a preference towards damaged corals, which typically produce more mucus than undamaged corals. Browsers eat coral tissue without damaging
1620-547: The Khmer system first before the Thai borrowed. Old Thai had a three-way tone distinction on "live syllables" (those not ending in a stop), with no possible distinction on "dead syllables" (those ending in a stop, i.e. either /p/, /t/, /k/ or the glottal stop that automatically closes syllables otherwise ending in a short vowel). There was a two-way voiced vs. voiceless distinction among all fricative and sonorant consonants, and up to
1680-484: The Thai-speaking area. All voiced–voiceless pairs of consonants lost the voicing distinction: However, in the process of these mergers, the former distinction of voice was transferred into a new set of tonal distinctions. In essence, every tone in Old Thai split into two new tones, with a lower-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiced consonant, and a higher-pitched tone corresponding to
1740-558: The abundance of corallivores such as Drupella snails and the crown-of-thorns starfish around the island in recent years. In 2012, a Marine Zoning and Regulations Master Plan was developed for the island and subsequently become local law, but the positive effects of increased management have yet to be realized. Tourism and development on the island has grown steadily for the last several decades, with public infrastructure often lagging far behind. Shortages of electricity and fresh water are common, and both solid and liquid waste management
1800-420: The account there were farms and even cows in a village on the bay lying on the west side of the island. The book includes a fanciful illustration of "Bardia" showing huts and palm trees. Joseph Huddart in 1801 included these directions for navigating the islands, "To the N.W. by N are two islands of about the same height as Poolo Carnom [Ko Samui]; the first, called SANCORY [Ko Pha-ngan], is 7 leagues from Carnom;
1860-542: The algal community in a state of accelerated growth, effectively preventing the transition to a slower growing community. Organisms display different strategies for consuming coral. The majority of corallivores feed on stony coral , however, a few species feed on soft coral . There are no known obligate soft coral feeder; soft coral is estimated to be a small percentage of the diet of soft coral feeders. The most common genera of coral consumed are Acropora , Pocillopora , Montipora , and Porites . Only 18 out of
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1920-501: The cause for instances of significant coral reduction in Toga Bay, Japan , and Ningaloo Reef, Australia . Most corallivores display a preference for one or a few types of coral. However, the obligate corallivore snail, Coralliophila abbreviata , is known to feed on 26 different species of coral and shows no distinct preference for one species. C. abbreviata lacks a radula that would allow it to scrape off coral tissue, so coral
1980-419: The coral's calcium carbonate skeleton. The majority of corallivore species are browsers. Scrapers consume live coral tissue and small portions of the coral's calcium carbonate skeleton. Excavators consume live coral tissue and large portions of the coral's calcium carbonate skeleton. Excavators can be further broken down to "spot biters" and "focused biters". Spot biters take bites that are scattered over
2040-514: The damage from excavating takes significantly longer to heal than other types of corallivory. Bioeroders consume dead coral substrate. Bioeroders are thought to help reshape coral reef landscapes by eroding dead corals. Corallivory is relatively rare in nature; less than 3% of known fish species , four families of crustaceans , four families of gastropods , and a few echinoderm genera have been identified as corallivores. Corallivores are present in all tropical reef regions. The region with
2100-541: The dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai script . Hlai languages Kam-Sui languages Kra languages Be language Northern Tai languages Central Tai languages Khamti language Tai Lue language Shan language others Northern Thai language Thai language Southern Thai language Tai Yo language Phuthai language Lao language (PDR Lao, Isan language ) Thai has undergone various historical sound changes. Some of
2160-422: The different boats used by the various ferry companies. Ko Tao has no airport, but connections to high speed catamarans and ferries are available at three airports. Train services are available to Chumphon where ferries are available. Cave dive sites: Thai language Thai , or Central Thai (historically Siamese ; Thai: ภาษาไทย ), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by
2220-567: The environment by passing finely ground particles from coral skeletons. In 1952, the first descriptions of organisms actively consuming coral were written by Jacques Cousteau and published in National Geographic . During his trip to the Red Sea aboard RV Calypso , Cousteau swam with a pair of green humphead parrotfish and watched them take regular bites and leaving white scars on the coral around them. Like Darwin, Cousteau also noticed
2280-466: The health of these grounds, but a breeding programme organised in 2004 by the Royal Thai Navy and KT-DOC, a coalition of local scuba diving centres, has reintroduced hundreds of juvenile turtles to the island's ecosystem. Chumpon Pinnacle, a dive site to the west of the island has a reputation for divers in search of both whale sharks and bull sharks. However, because of warmer water temperatures over
2340-471: The highest proportion of corallivorous organisms is the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean . Butterflyfish constitute a large percentage of the known corallivores; of the 128 known corallivorous fish species, 69 are butterflyfish species. Additionally, 50% of butterflyfish species are corallivores, making corallivory their most common feeding method. Corallivorous fish come from 11 different families. 39 species are obligate corallivores. Butterflyfish have
2400-435: The island over ten years ago now returning with their families. A series of tourist deaths – including murder and alleged suicide – particularly since 2014, has prompted some to advise that tourists avoid visiting Ko Tao, with some British tabloids labelling it as "Death Island". Although tourist arrivals to the island dropped in the months immediately following the murders in 2014, there was little lasting effect. To serve
2460-431: The large amount of coral consumed, studies suggest that the golden pufferfish has little influence on coral abundance in the region. Parrotfish are a family of fish that contain several corallivorous species. Reef-dwelling parrotfish have teeth on their lower and upper jaw that have evolved into an edge for cutting. This cutting edge allows parrotfish to scrape and feed on coral tissue and skeleton. The cutting edge on
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2520-400: The last year a great number of bull sharks have migrated to cooler waters. The island is host to over 130 species of hard corals, and over 223 species of reef fishes belonging to 53 families. Diving conditions have improved dramatically in the past few years with the continuing education of locals by the dive community. El Niño weather patterns caused a warming of the waters which resulted in
2580-515: The local patois as pronounced in Guangdong Ayutthaya , the old capital of Thailand from 1351 - 1767 A.D., was from the beginning a bilingual society, speaking Thai and Khmer . Bilingualism must have been strengthened and maintained for some time by the great number of Khmer-speaking captives the Thais took from Angkor Thom after their victories in 1369, 1388 and 1431. Gradually toward the end of
2640-540: The loss of a great deal of the shallow corals near the island. Since then, the recovery has been swift and dramatic. Ko Tao now offers some of the best scuba diving in the Gulf of Thailand. And with help by the island conservation group, Save Koh Tao, the island's environmental outlook is improving. As one of the world's most popular diving destinations, more attention is being focused on the negative effects of diving on coral reef health around Ko Tao. Natural factors combined with over-use of some areas has led to an increase in
2700-547: The most significant changes occurred during the evolution from Old Thai to modern Thai. The Thai writing system has an eight-century history and many of these changes, especially in consonants and tones, are evidenced in the modern orthography . According to a Chinese source, during the Ming dynasty , Yingya Shenglan (1405–1433), Ma Huan reported on the language of the Xiānluó (暹羅) or Ayutthaya Kingdom, saying that it somewhat resembled
2760-466: The other...,named BARDA, or Bardia [Ko Tao], is 7½ leagues from Sancory." (A league is approximately 3 nautical miles or 5.5 km.) On 18 June 1899, King Chulalongkorn visited Ko Tao and left as evidence his monogram on a huge boulder at Jor Por Ror Bay next to Sairee Beach. This place is still worshiped today. In 1933, the island started to be used as a political prison. In 1947 Khuang Abhaiwongse , prime minister at that time, pleaded and received
2820-415: The period, a language shift took place. Khmer fell out of use. Both Thai and Khmer descendants whose great-grand parents or earlier ancestors were bilingual came to use only Thai. In the process of language shift, an abundance of Khmer elements were transferred into Thai and permeated all aspects of the language. Consequently, the Thai of the late Ayutthaya Period which later became Ratanakosin or Bangkok Thai,
2880-723: The remaining three-fourths are facultative corallivores. Obligate corallivory is defined as having a diet which is at least 80% coral. Obligate corallivores are present in all tropical oceans, except the Caribbean . Facultative corallivores are defined as organisms that regularly consume coral without it comprising a large percentage of their diet. It is thought that some facultative corallivores, such as some damselfish , eat coral to promote algal growth . Many facultative corallivores also graze on algae, which competes with coral for space and resources. By grazing coral, it may provide better conditions for algal growth. Aggressive grazing may keep
2940-513: The ring surrounding the Metropolis . In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages . Although most linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, native speakers often identify them as regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai". As a dominant language in all aspects of society in Thailand, Thai initially saw gradual and later widespread adoption as
3000-484: The royal vocabulary according to their immediate environment. Thai and Pali, the latter from Theravada Buddhism, were added to the vocabulary. An investigation of the Ayutthaya Rajasap reveals that three languages, Thai, Khmer and Khmero-Indic were at work closely both in formulaic expressions and in normal discourse. In fact, Khmero-Indic may be classified in the same category as Khmer because Indic had been adapted to
3060-511: The sediment particles that were produced in the parrotfishs' waste and settled to the seafloor. Cousteau noted the leisurely speed with which the parrotfish consumed the coral and remarked that they appeared "unhurried" and like "sea cows, browsing on stone pastures." The term "corallivore" comes from the Latin word corallum for coral and - vora for to eat or devour. Approximately one-third of known corallivores are obligate corallivores, while
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#17328588593833120-508: The species of coral being consumed is spatially dominant, grazing can help control growth and promote greater reef diversity. Corallivores are often sensitive to declines in coral health and population size, and are negatively affected during periods of high coral loss. In particular, obligate corallivores have been reported to experience high population declines following instances of coral loss. Studies have shown that corallivores suffer during bleaching events, suggesting that bleached coral
3180-475: The teeth of parrotfish resembles a beak, which is the basis for the organism's common name. In addition to the cutting edge adaptation, parrotfish also have well-developed crossed joints that connect the dentary and articular bones of the lower jaw, which presents a mechanical advantage that makes the bite much stronger. There are 48 known corallivorous invertebrate species, 14 of which are obligate corallivores. The facultative corallivore crown-of-thorns star
3240-535: The terminology "low" reflects the lower tone variants that resulted. Modern "mid"-class consonants were voiceless unaspirated stops or affricates in Old Thai—precisely the class that triggered lowering in original tone 1 but not tones 2 or 3. Modern "high"-class consonants were the remaining voiceless consonants in Old Thai (voiceless fricatives, voiceless sonorants, voiceless aspirated stops). The three most common tone "marks" (the lack of any tone mark, as well as
3300-404: The three tones of Old Thai were split have since merged into five in standard Thai, with the lower variant of former tone 2 merging with the higher variant of former tone 3, becoming the modern "falling" tone. หม ม หน น, ณ หญ ญ หง ง ป ผ พ, ภ บ ฏ, ต ฐ, ถ ท, ธ ฎ, ด จ ฉ ช corallivore A corallivore
3360-402: The tourist population, some 3,000–5,000 Burmese workers staff the island. There is a dominant Thai family on the island that owns several dive schools, resorts, and bars. Motorbikes are the main form of transport and the main cause of injury to tourists in the area. Ferry companies Lomprayah, Seatran, and Songserm serve Ko Tao from: All ferries dock at Ban Mae Haad. Journey times vary due to
3420-423: The two marks termed mai ek and mai tho ) represent the three tones of Old Thai, and the complex relationship between tone mark and actual tone is due to the various tonal changes since then. Since the tone split, the tones have changed in actual representation to the point that the former relationship between lower and higher tonal variants has been completely obscured. Furthermore, the six tones that resulted after
3480-459: Was 1,382. The main settlement is Ban Mae Haad. The economy of the island is almost exclusively centered on tourism, especially scuba diving . Scuba diving is extremely popular in Ko Tao due to clear visibility, inexpensive pricing, warm water, and the range of sealife to be seen. Before being settled the island would be occasionally visited by fishermen from neighbouring islands looking for shelter in
3540-449: Was a thorough mixture of Thai and Khmer. There were more Khmer words in use than Tai cognates. Khmer grammatical rules were used actively to coin new disyllabic and polysyllabic words and phrases. Khmer expressions, sayings, and proverbs were expressed in Thai through transference. Thais borrowed both the Royal vocabulary and rules to enlarge the vocabulary from Khmer. The Thais later developed
3600-623: Was presented by Charles Darwin in 1842 during his voyage on HMS Beagle in which he found coral in the stomach of two Scarus parrotfish . While visiting the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1842, Charles Darwin was told by an Englishman living on the islands that there were large shoals of parrotfish that subsisted entirely on coral. Darwin dissected several parrotfish and found pieces of coral and finely ground calcareous material in their stomach. This led Darwin to correctly theorize that some species of parrotfish consume coral and contribute sediment to
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