%0 Journal Article
%T Inferred calcification rate of a Mediterranean azooxanthellate coral is uncoupled with sea surface temperature along an 8¡ã latitudinal gradient
%A Erik Caroselli
%A Guido Mattioli
%A Oren Levy
%A Giuseppe Falini
%A Zvy Dubinsky
%A Stefano Goffredo
%J Frontiers in Zoology
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1742-9994-9-32
%X Calcification rate was correlated with skeletal density but not with linear extension rate, indicating that calcium carbonate deposition was preferentially allocated to keep a constant skeletal density. Unlike most studies on both temperate and tropical zooxanthellate corals, where calcification rate is strongly related to environmental parameters such as SST, in the present study calcification rate was not correlated with SST.The lower sensitivity of L. pruvoti to SST with respect to other sympatric zooxanthellate corals, such as Balanophyllia europaea, may rely on the absence of a temperature induced inhibition of photosynthesis, and thus the absence of an inhibition of the calcification process. This study is the first field investigation of the relationship between SST and the three growth parameters of an azooxanthellate coral. Increasing research effort on determining the effects of temperature on biological traits of the poorly studied azooxanthellate scleractinians may help to predict the possible species assemblage shifts that are likely to occur in the immediate future as a consequence of global climatic change.Latitude is the main factor influencing the variation of light and temperature [1], two environmental parameters strongly linked to coral growth, physiology, demography and distribution pattern [2,3]. As a general trend, coral growth decreases with increasing latitude until a limit is reached where coral reef development no longer occurs, beyond 30¡ãN and 30¡ãS [4]. Coral growth can be defined by three related parameters (calcification = linear extension x skeletal density; [3,5]) whose measurement is essential when assessing the environmental effects on coral growth, because none of the three can perfectly predict the other two [6]. Analyzing these variables also allows predicting the possible effect of climatic changes on coral ecosystems [7,8]. These three variables have been studied in the field in the tropical genera Montastraea[5], Diploastrea[9
%K Asymbiotic coral
%K Coral growth
%K Dendrophylliidae
%K Global warming
%K Scleractinia
%K Temperate coral
%U http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/9/1/32