ZOL 353 Lecture 41: Coral Reefs
Document Summary
Individual colonies can be over 4000 years: living reefs <10,000 years old due to sea level change, several previous assemblages of reef-building and reef-inhabiting organisms in fossil record. Including sponge-dominated, bryozoan, red algae, bivalves, extinct coral relatives. The rainforests of the sea: like rainforests, coral reefs are structurally extremely complex, highly stratified in terms of light, depth, protection, etc, thousands of species of fishes and invertebrates are reef-associated. By far the most diverse marine habitats. Also have the most species interactions e. g. mutualisms: both rainforests and coral reefs occur in low-nutrient environments, unlike rainforests, coral reefs are animal-dominated. Locations: (cid:272)o(cid:448)er just (cid:1004). (cid:1005)% of earth"s surfa(cid:272)e, found worldwide, but concentrated in particular areas, dependent on ocean currents. Circular currents bringing warm water from equator to reef areas: other side of ocean currents carry cold water so no or few reefs, most concentrations of reefs in indo-pacific, gulf of mexico, and red sea. Diagram of a polyp of a scleractinian coral.
