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Growth Patterns in Long-Lived Coral Species

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Book cover Marine Animal Forests

Abstract

The knowledge on the growth patterns of organisms constructing complex three-dimensional structures can help in understanding their role as engineering species. Growth and form of several sessile organisms are characterized by different properties; one of those is modularity. Trees in terrestrial habitats and corals in marine environments are sessile modular organisms where growth is regulated by similar processes. Part of forestry’s theoretical and practical framework on the study of growth can then be applied to the marine environment. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of the different growth patterns of corals by applying some of the techniques developed for trees (e.g., annual growth ring count).

As growth can be influenced by environmental conditions, understanding the mechanisms and rates of growth can give precious insights on the effects of climate change and anthropogenic disturbances. Annual growth rings of several species of corals act as climatic archive in a similar manner as it happens in trees. Corals grow in winter and summer, but the density of the calcium carbonate depositions in the coral skeleton is different due to seasonal changes in ocean temperature, pH, availability of nutrients, and differences in light irradiance.

Examples of different coral species living in different environments (from cold-water corals to tropical coral reef species) will be discussed in order to shed light on the mechanism of formation and development of the so-called animal forests.

Field- and laboratory-based knowledge can be integrated within numerical models describing the basic mechanisms of growth and fine-tuned by using observed data. Models are particularly useful as they assess effects that are almost impossible to observe in real time, due to the long life span of some species, as well as impractical experimental setups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques (LECOB), Observatoire Océanologique, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, F-66650, Banyuls sur mer, France

    F. Lartaud & L. Bramanti

  2. OGS, Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale, Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/C, 34010, Sgonico (TS), Italy

    G. Galli, C. Priori & C. Solidoro

  3. Department of Environmental Science Federal Urdu, University of Arts Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

    A. Raza

  4. Dipartimento di Biologia, Universityof Pisa, Via Volta 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    C. Priori, M. C. Benedetti & G. Santangelo

  5. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, University of Cagliari, Via T. Fiorelli 1, 09126, Cagliari, Italy

    A. Cau

  6. Dipartimento di Matematica, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 14, 38123, Povo (TN), Italy

    M. Iannelli

  7. Department of Biology, California State University Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff st., Northridge, CA, 91330, USA

    L. Bramanti

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  1. F. Lartaud
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  2. G. Galli
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Correspondence to F. Lartaud .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Environmental Science & Technology Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Sergio Rossi

  2. LECOB / Ocean Observatory CNRS / Pierre and Marie Curie University, Banyuls-sur-mer, France

    Lorenzo Bramanti

  3. Dept. Marine Biology & Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, Spain

    Andrea Gori

  4. Balearic Oceanographic Centre Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Covadonga Orejas Saco del Valle

Glossary

Allometry

The scaling relationship between parts of an organism and its whole.

Arborescent

Treelike in shape, generally aboveground or substratum.

Asexual reproduction

When fusion of gametes is not involved. Production of new individuals by any nonsexual method, e.g., binary fission, budding, schizogony, etc.

Asymbiotic

When symbiosis (mainly with symbiodinium) is absent.

Axial polyp

The longest and terminal polyp of a group of polyps.

Calcite

A form of calcium carbonate, crystallized in rhombohedric form.

Colonial organism

A collection of genetically identical units which live together in a closely connected fashion.

Convenient choice

In mathematical jargon, something you are allowed to choose arbitrarily, so you choose it in a way that makes your calculations easier.

Fecundity

The number of eggs, seeds, or offspring of the first stage in a life cycle produced by an individual organism.

Gemmation

A form of asexual reproduction or budding.

Genet

A group of genetically identical individuals that have grown in a given location, all originating asexually from a single ancestor.

Indeterminate growth

A type of growth for an organism or its part that does not terminate. By contrast determinate growth stops once a genetically predetermined structure has completed its formation.

Modular organisms

Organisms that grow by iterative growth of parts, e.g., leaves, shoots, and branches of a plant, or the polyps of a coral or bryozoan.

Module

A repeated unit of multicellular structure, normally arranged in a branch system.

Sclerochronology

The study of periodicities stored in accreted hard parts and skeletons. The range of periodicity can vary from circa-daily to annual scales providing potentially long records of historical variations (from years to centuries). Annual periodicity can give information on age and growth rates. Sclerochronology is analogous to the study of annual growth rings in trees, termed dendrochronology.

Sessile

Organisms that do not move and are fixed to the substrate.

Symbiotic

The close association between different biological species that benefit from each other.

Solitary

Corals that grow as a single polyp with a surrounding skeleton.

Unitary organism

Organisms that start their development in a determinate fashion and eventually reach a definite adult form.

Zooxanthellae

Photosynthetic algae that live in the tissue of most reef-building corals and have a mutualistic relationship with the coral.

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Lartaud, F. et al. (2016). Growth Patterns in Long-Lived Coral Species. In: Rossi, S., Bramanti, L., Gori, A., Orejas Saco del Valle, C. (eds) Marine Animal Forests. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17001-5_15-1

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