ECOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF RECENT CORAL REEFS

作者：D. R. Stoddart · 发表于：Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 年份：1969 · DOI：10.1111/j.1469-185x.1969.tb00609.x · 被引用次数：450 · 研究领域：Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies、Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils、Marine and fisheries research

Summary 1. The classical ‘coral reef problem’ concerned the geological relationships of reefs as major topographical features; modern coral studies consider reefs both as complex biological systems of high productivity and as geological structures forming a framework for and being modified by coral growth. 2. Deep borings in reefs have conclusively confirmed the general arguments of Darwin, that oceanic reefs developed by progressive subsidence of their foundations. Darwin failed to take account of Pleistocene changes in sea level and their effect on the present surface features of reefs. Daly's alternative ‘glacial control theory’ was based on false assumptions concerning marine erosion rates during glacial periods, but if sea level during the Holocene was higher than at present, as Daly also supposed, the effects on reef features would be profound. 3. Reefs are complex biological systems in tropical seas, dominated by scleractinian corals. Coral faunas are larger and more diverse in the Indo‐Pacific than in the Atlantic. Hermatypic corals are restricted to shallow water by the light requirements of their symbiotic algae, but temperature is a major control of worldwide distributions. Temperature, salinity and sediment tolerances of corals are wider than formerly supposed, and corals can survive brief emersion except when it coincides with heavy rainfall. Water turbulence is an important ecological control, but difficult to measure. 4. The trophic status of corals is still un...