Abstract Parrotfish are key agents of bioerosion and sediment production in coral reef ecosystems; however, their dietary targets therefore potential sources variation carbonate cycling lack resolution. Here we address this knowledge shortfall our current understanding parrotfish diets by testing the concept that protein-rich micro-photoautotrophs target prey for many Scarinine parrotfishes. We...

Studies of marine microbioerosion in polar environments are scarce. They include our recent investigations bioerosion traces preserved sessile balanid skeletons from the Arctic Svalbard archipelago and Antarctic Ross Sea. Here, we present results a third study site, Frobisher Bay, eastern Canadian Arctic, together with synthesis current knowledge both hemispheres. Barnacles 62 to 94 m water dep...

Encrusting and excavating Caribbean sponges Cliona aprica, C. caribbaea and C. tenuis (Hadromerida: Clionaidae) aggressively undermine and displace live coral tissue. To establish modes and rates of lateral advance into neighboring organisms, 171 sponge individuals were studied for 13 mo. Sponge advancement into live coral, via excavation underneath boundary polyps, occurred only when the 2 con...

Coral reefs face multiple anthropogenic threats, from pollution and overfishing to the dual effects of greenhouse gas emissions: rising sea temperature and ocean acidification. While the abundance of coral has declined in recent decades, the implications for humanity are difficult to quantify because they depend on ecosystem function rather than the corals themselves. Most reef functions and ec...

In contrast to biomineralization phenomena, that are among the most widely studied topics in modern material and earth science and biomedicine, much less is systematized on modern view of demineralization. Biomineralized structures and tissues are composites, containing a biologically produced organic matrix and nano- or microscale amorphous or crystalline minerals. Demineralization is the proc...

The fossil record yields a peculiar phenomenon in different kinds of molluscan shells: bioclaustrations formed around (epi)symbionts during growth the hosts' shell margin. Four morphologies, two them formerly considered bioerosion traces, are here united parataxonomy bioclaustration structures under revised cecidogenus Rodocanalis. These are: (1) simple linear grooves (Rodocanalis linearis csp....