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Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs pp 902–906Cite as

Reef Topographic Complexity

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definitions

Topographic complexity is the three-dimensional arrangement of structural features over the seafloor surface, spanning all spatial scales.

Rugosity is an estimate of topographic complexity based on a single measurement scale.

Roughness is an estimate of topographic complexity based on measures spanning a range of spatial scales and pertains to the textural characteristics of a surface.

Introduction

Coral reefs are among the most topographically complex biogenic structures in the sea. Topographic complexity (TC) exists on all spatial scales and influences a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical aspects of a coral reef system, such as water flow (Munk and Sargent, 1954; Monismith, 2007; Nunes and Pawlak, 2008) and, consequently, nutrient uptake and mass transfer rates (Shashar et al., 1996; Hearn et al., 2001), species richness and biomass (Friedlander and Parrish, 1998; Idjadi and Edmunds, 2006), and both refuge (Steele, 1999) and larval-settlement space (Idjadi...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, 600 Fourth St. South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701, USA

    David G. Zawada

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  1. David G. Zawada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David G. Zawada .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    David Hopley

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Zawada, D.G. (2011). Reef Topographic Complexity. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_141

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