Boring bivalve traces in modern reef and deeper-water macroid and rhodolith beds
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Springer
Materia
Rhodoliths Macroids Bioerosion Phenotypic plasticity Bivalves Pacific Ocean Mediterranean Sea Recent
Date
2020-08-26Referencia bibliográfica
Bassi, D., Braga, J. C., Owada, M., Aguirre, J., Lipps, J. H., Takayanagi, H., & Iryu, Y. (2020). Boring bivalve traces in modern reef and deeper-water macroid and rhodolith beds. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 7(1), 1-17. [https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-020-00356-w]
Sponsorship
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) 25247083; Erasmus+; FAR2012-2017; FIR2016; FIR2018; PRIN "Biotic resilience to global change: biomineralization of planktonic and benthic calcifiers in the past, present and future" 2017RX9XXXY; BioMed Central-Prepay Membership at the University of Ferrara; Junta de Andalucía RNM 190; Committee on Research; Museum of Paleontology; Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley; UC Pacific Rim ProjectAbstract
Macroids and rhodoliths, made by encrusting acervulinid foraminifera and coralline algae, are widely recognized as
bioengineers providing relatively stable microhabitats and increasing biodiversity for other species. Macroid and
rhodolith beds occur in different depositional settings at various localities and bathymetries worldwide. Six case
studies of macroid/rhodolith beds from 0 to 117m water depth in the Pacific Ocean (northern Central Ryukyu
Islands, French Polynesia), eastern Australia (Fraser Island, One Tree Reef, Lizard Island), and the Mediterranean Sea
(southeastern Spain) show that nodules in the beds are perforated by small-sized boring bivalve traces
(Gastrochanolites). On average, boring bivalve shells (gastrochaenids and mytilids) are more slender and smaller than
those living inside shallow-water rocky substrates. In the Pacific, Gastrochaena cuneiformis, Gastrochaena sp., Leiosolenus
malaccanus, L. mucronatus, L. spp., and Lithophaga/Leiosolenus sp., for the first time identified below 20m water depth,
occur as juvenile forms along with rare small-sized adults. In deep-water macroids and rhodoliths the boring bivalves
are larger than the shallower counterparts in which growth of juveniles is probably restrained by higher overturn rates
of host nodules. In general, most boring bivalves are juveniles that grew faster than the acervulinid foraminiferal and
coralline red algal hosts and rarely reached the adult stage. As a consequence of phenotypic plasticity, small-sized
adults with slow growth rates coexist with juveniles. Below wave base macroids and rhodoliths had the highest
amounts of bioerosion, mainly produced by sponges and polychaete worms. These modern observations provide
bases for paleobiological inferences in fossil occurrences.