Do sponges help hold coral reefs together?
Do sponges help hold coral reefs together?
复制标题
海绵有助于将珊瑚礁固定在一起吗？
作者：
J. Wulff;L. W. Buss
珊瑚礁的生长和形成是碳酸盐沉积速率和碳酸盐流失速率之间复杂平衡的结果。根据其在这种平衡中的作用，珊瑚礁生物传统上被归类为主要的框架构造者、框架粘结者、生物擦除者或沉积物生产者1、2.在大多数现代珊瑚礁环境中，珊瑚是主要的框架构造者。许多这样的珊瑚的生长产生了大量空置的神秘空间。如果这个空间充满沉积物，那么成功的生物礁建造就会发生，这个沉积物被框架胶结生物胶结，产生的复合体随后被石化3-5。由于这个岩化过程可能是缓慢的，在永久固结之前，由于物理扰动(如波冲击)的作用，框架材料很容易从生物礁骨架中分离出来6-10。我们在这里提供了实验证据，表明去纤毛虫(在许多加勒比海生物礁上的空间占有率可能仅次于硬骨珊瑚)作为未固结的框架材料的临时粘合剂发挥了重要作用，这一过程预计会增加碳酸盐沉积速率。
The growth and form of coral reefs is the result of a complex balance between rates of carbonate accretion and carbonate loss. Reef organisms have traditionally been classified, with respect to their role in this balance, as primary frame-builders, frame-cementers, biological eroders or sediment producers1,2. Scleractinian corals are the primary frame-building organisms in most modern reef environments. The growth of many such corals generates large volumes of unoccupied cryptic space. Successful reef construction occurs if this space is infilled with sediment, this sediment is cemented by frame-cementing organisms, and the resulting complex is subsequently lithified3–5. As this lithification process may be slow, frame material is highly susceptible to becoming separated from the reef framework due to the action of physical disturbance (such as wave shock) before permanent consolidation6–10. We present here experimental evidence that demosponges (which may be second only to scleractinian corals in space occupancy on many Caribbean reefs) play an important role as interim binders of unconsolidated frame material, a process which is expected to increase rates of carbonate accretion.