Quantitative comparison of Pleistocene and Recent coral reef habitats in the northern Red Sea (El Quseir, Egypt)

Alexandroff, Stella; Zuschin, Martin; Kroh, Andreas

doi:10.1007/s10347-016-0468-6

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Because zonation is preserved on fossil reefs, assemblage data can be used to infer their paleoenvironments ( Mesolella, 1967 ; Edinger, Pandolfi & Kelley, 2001 ), even in the absence of reliable paleodepths. Although one should be cautious about assuming that environmental preferences of organisms remain unchanged through time ( Bottjer & Jablonski, 1988 ), Pleistocene reef environments show similar zonation trends to modern reefs ( Mesolella, 1967 ; Jackson, 1992 ; Pandolfi, 1996 ; Pandolfi & Jackson, 2006 ; Alexandroff, Zuschin & Kroh, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Al-Rifaiy & Cherif (1988) provide a more limited description of corals from the coast of Jordan, and likewise Bruggemann et al (2004) mention coral species in descriptions of terraces from the coast of Eritrea. More recently Alexandroff, Zuschin & Kroh (2016) provided a quantitative comparison of Scleractinian genera between Late Pleistocene and Modern reef habitats on the Egyptian coast. The local geography and political climate of the region limit access to outcrops, so these works provide a valuable resource for comparing the fossil fauna of the Red Sea to the modern fauna.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence

Casazza¹

2017

PeerJ

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The fossil record of Red Sea fringing reefs provides an opportunity to study the history of coral-reef survival and recovery in the context of extreme environmental change. The Middle Pleistocene, the Late Pleistocene, and modern reefs represent three periods of reef growth separated by glacial low stands during which conditions became difficult for symbiotic reef fauna. Coral diversity and paleoenvironments of eight Middle and Late Pleistocene fossil terraces are described and characterized here. Pleistocene reef zones closely resemble reef zones of the modern Red Sea. All but one species identified from Middle and Late Pleistocene outcrops are also found on modern Red Sea reefs despite the possible extinction of most coral over two-thirds of the Red Sea basin during glacial low stands. Refugia in the Gulf of Aqaba and southern Red Sea may have allowed for the persistence of coral communities across glaciation events. Stability of coral communities across these extreme climate events indicates that even small populations of survivors can repopulate large areas given appropriate water conditions and time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence

Casazza¹

2017

PeerJ

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“…Because zonation is preserved on fossil reefs, assemblage data can be used to infer their paleoenvironments (Mesolella 1967, Edinger 2001, even in the absence of reliable paleodepths. Although one should be cautious about assuming that environmental preferences of organisms remain unchanged through time (Bottjer and Jablonski 1988), Pleistocene reef environments show similar zonation trends to modern reefs (Mesolella 1967, Jackson 1992, Pandolfi 1996, Pandolfi and Jackson 2006, Alexandroff et al 2016).…”

Section: Pleistocene Diversity and Paleoenvironmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #2 of "Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence (v0.1)"

2017

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The fossil record of Red Sea fringing reefs provides an opportunity to study the history of coral-reef survival and recovery in the context of extreme environmental change. Middle Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene, and modern reefs represent three periods of reef growth separated by glacial low-stands during which conditions became difficult for symbiotic reef fauna. Coral diversity and paleoenvironments of eight Middle and Late Pleistocene fossil terraces are described and characterized here. Pleistocene reef zones closely resemble reef zones of the modern Red Sea. All but one species identified from Middle and Late Pleistocene outcrops are also found on modern Red Sea reefs despite the possible extinction of most coral over two-thirds of the Red Sea basin during glacial low-stands. Refugia in the Gulf of Aqaba and southern Red Sea may have allowed for the persistence of coral communities across glaciation events. Stability of coral communities across these extreme climate events indicates that even small populations of survivors can repopulate large areas given appropriate water conditions and time.

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“…But there are a few available recent works on the diversity and systematics of the Red Sea fauna. Dullo (1990) described the Pleistocene fauna from the terraces of Saudi Arabia, and Alexandroff, Zuschin, and Kroh (2016); Casazza (2017), DiBattista, Roberts, et al (2016), El‐Sorogy (1997a, 1997b, 2002, 2008), El‐Sorogy, Nour, Essa, and Tawfik (2012), Kora, Ayyad, and El‐Desouky (2014), Mewis (2016), and Mewis and Kiessling (2013) described the Quaternary reefs of the Egyptian coast, Al‐Rifaiy and Cherif (1988) provide a more limited description of corals from the coast of Jordan, Bruggemann et al (2004) mentioned coral species in descriptions of terraces from the coast of Eritrea, and Hamed (2015) studied the Pleistocene Reefs of the Red Sea Coast in Sudan. Most of these studies were concentrated in the northern region of the Red Sea, while a few or limited data are available for south of both the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian margins, as well as many islands in the Red Sea.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary corals (Scleractinia: Merulinidae) from the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Red Sea Coast

2021

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This work provides a comprehensive description of the Scleractinian family Merulinidae (Verrill, 1865) of the Red Sea at species level based on skeletal structure for helping in evaluating and estimation of actual species diversity, as well as predicting their response to environmental changes. The present study is a first attempt to describe and illustrate the coral species of the family Merulinidae in the Farasan Islands (Saudi Arabian Coast). Moreover, coral reef terraces are investigated around El Quseir‐Marsa Alam area on the Egyptian Red Sea Coast. Overall, 42 scleractinian coral species from the family Merulinidae (Verrill, 1865) have been identified. They belong to 14 genera: Dipsastraea, Favites, Echinopora, Goniastrea, Coelastrea, Paragoniastrea, Paramontastraea, Astrea, Cyphastrea, Erythrastrea, Merulina, Platygyra, Leptoria, and Hydnophora. About 37 species are recorded for the first time from the Farasan Islands and 26 species from El Quseir‐Marsa Alam area, among them three species are recognized as new records. Two species are added to coral communities of the Red Sea (Goniastrea favulus and Paragoniastrea deformis), and six species were added to the fossil record of the Red Sea. The terminology, systematic classification, and the criteria of identification for all studied coral taxa are generally updated according to recent results. The known age and all recorded stratigraphic range of these species are illustrated and discussed. From the results, most of the corals are still living in the present Red Sea except for three species: Favites micropentagonus, Goniastrea favulus, and Paragoniastrea deformis. All species are extended down to the Pleistocene and a few to the Pliocene and Miocene.

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Quantitative comparison of Pleistocene and Recent coral reef habitats in the northern Red Sea (El Quseir, Egypt)

Cited by 10 publications

References 41 publications

Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence

Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence

Peer Review #2 of "Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence (v0.1)"

Quaternary corals (Scleractinia: Merulinidae) from the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Red Sea Coast

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