1 / 42

Tropical Reefs: Coral/Algal

Tropical Reefs: Coral/Algal. Diversity and Challenges. Questions:. Why are tropical reefs comparable to rain forests in diversity? Dissolved nutrients are scarce Productivity & diversity normally go together Why are tropical reefs disappearing?. Increasing threats to coral.

colman
Download Presentation

Tropical Reefs: Coral/Algal

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tropical Reefs: Coral/Algal Diversity and Challenges

  2. Questions: • Why are tropical reefs comparable to rain forests in diversity? • Dissolved nutrients are scarce • Productivity & diversity normally go together • Why are tropical reefs disappearing?

  3. Increasing threats to coral

  4. Current bleaching threats

  5. What are the challenges? • Low nutrients dissolved in water • Shallow habitats mean more intense wave action • Long-term: sea level changes

  6. Tropical reefs are geologically important

  7. Reef ecology has long challenged biologists

  8. Dominant reef-building organisms • Small individuals, magnified in effect by large numbers • Phylum Cnidaria • Class Anthozoa • Subclass Zoantheria • Diverse algae, depositing CaCO3

  9. Cnidaria polyps: radial symmetry

  10. Cnidaria: tentacles for feeding

  11. Cnidaria: stinging cells on tentacles

  12. Not all corals deposit CaCO3

  13. “Hermatypic” corals create reefs in symbiosis with Symbiodinium

  14. Growth forms of colonies reflect tradeoffs • Access to light for symbiotic algae • Issues of depth (growth upward) • Issues of competition (shading) • Risk of damage from turbulence in shallow seas • Diverse growth forms reflect different balances

  15. Fast extension: linear growth form

  16. Extension + more surface area: branching

  17. Lattice: a subset of “branching” form

  18. Plate form: more resistant to turbulence

  19. Massive form: very wave-resistant

  20. Independent algae build reefs: crustose Algae can contribute a large fraction of reef mass

  21. Independent algae: Green (Halimeda)

  22. Reefs: a matrix of solid coral and sand

  23. Reef diversity – some examples

  24. Ecological functional groups

  25. A larger scale view: reef building process

  26. Atoll structure

  27. Habitat diversity within an atoll

More Related