In Situ Growth and Bioerosion Rates of Lophelia pertusa in a Norwegian Fjord and Open Shelf Cold-water Coral Habitat ...

• Main Authors: Büscher, Janina, Wisshak, Max, Form, Armin, Titschack, Jürgen, Nachtigall, Kerstin, Riebesell, Ulf
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2019
• Subjects: Bioerosion; cold-water corals; growth; in situ study; Lophelia pertusa; North Atlantic; Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification BIOACID; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.903093; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.903093

Coral reef resilience depends on the balance between carbonate precipitation, leading to reef growth, and carbonate degradation, e.g. through bioerosion. Changes in environmental conditions are likely to affect the two processes differently, thereby shifting the balance between reef growth and degradation. In cold-water corals estimates of accretion-erosion processes in their natural habitat are scarce and solely live coral growth rates were studied with regard to future environmental changes in the laboratory so far, limiting our ability to assess the potential of cold-water coral reef ecosystems to cope with environmental changes. In the present study, growth rates of the two predominant colour morphotypes of live Lophelia pertusa as well as bioerosion rates of dead coral framework were assessed in different environmental settings in Norwegian cold-water coral reefs in a one-year in situ experiment. Net growth (in weight gain and linear extension) of live L. pertusa was in the lower range of previous ... : Supplement to: Büscher, Janina; Wisshak, Max; Form, Armin; Titschack, Jürgen; Nachtigall, Kerstin; Riebesell, Ulf (2019): In situ growth and bioerosion rates of Lophelia pertusa in a Norwegian fjord and open shelf cold-water coral habitat. PeerJ, 7, e7586 ...