The puzzling presence of calcite in skeletons of modern solitary corals from the Mediterranean Sea

Goffredo, Stefano; Caroselli, Erik; Mezzo, Francesco; Laiolo, Leonardo; Vergni, Patrizia; Pasquini, Luca; Levy, Oren; Zaccanti, Francesco; Tribollet, Aline; Dubinsky, Zvy; Falini, Giuseppe

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2012.02.014

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…It is possible that bacteria directly associated with the surface of the planula and the developing larvae (Sharp et al, 2012) and/or the biofilm of the substrate may induce calcite formation in trace amounts (Vandermeulen and Watabe, 1973), but that sample preparation, in particular the tissue bleaching step used to expose the skeleton and the substrate, has removed evidence for the occurrence of such bacteria. Therefore, as proposed above for fusiform, dumbbell, and spherulitic morphologies, the presence in trace amounts of a calcitic component in coral recruits might result from a precipitation process from SW entering the environment between the coral and the substrate and interacting directly with organic matrix associated with the biofilm, as recently demonstrated by biomimetic in vitro experiments (Ren et al, 2011;Goffredo et al, 2012;Falini et al, 2013). Clode et al (2011) and Cohen et al (2009) observed only aragonite in bulk spectroscopic analyses of detached skeleton produced by Acropora millepora (10 days) and Favia fragum (9 days) recruits, respectively.…”

Section: Mineralogy Of the Initial Layer Of The Basal Platementioning

confidence: 83%

Biomineralization in newly settled recruits of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis

Gilis

Meibom

Domart‐Coulon

et al. 2014

Journal of Morphology

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Calcium carbonate biomineralization of scleractinian coral recruits is fundamental to the construction of reefs and their survival under stress from global and local environmental change. Establishing a baseline for how normal, healthy coral recruits initiate skeletal formation is, therefore, warranted. Here, we present a thorough, multiscale, microscopic and spectroscopic investigation of skeletal elements deposited by Pocillopora damicornis recruits, from 12 h to 22 days after settlement in aquarium on a flat substrate. Six growth stages are defined, primarily based on appearance and morphology of successively deposited skeletal structures, with the following average formation time-scales: A (<24 h), B (24-36 h), C (36-48 h), D (48-72 h), E (72-96 h), and F (>10 days). Raman and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicate the presence of calcite among the earliest components of the basal plate, which consist of micrometer-sized, rod-shaped crystals with rhomboidal habit. All later CaCO3 skeletal structures are composed exclusively of aragonite. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy reveals that, externally, all CaCO3 deposits consist of <100 nm granular units. Fusiform, dumbbell-like, and semispherulitic structures, 25-35 µm in longest dimension, occur only during the earliest stages (Stages A-C), with morphologies similar to structures formed abiotically or induced by organics in in vitro carbonate crystallization experiments. All other skeletal structures of the basal plate are composed of vertically extending lamellar bundles of granules. From Stage D, straight fibrils, 40-45 nm in width and presumably of organic composition, form bridges between these aragonitic bundles emerging from the growing front of fusing skeletal structures. Our results show a clear evolution in the coral polyp biomineralization process as the carbonate structures develop toward those characterizing the adult skeleton.

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Section: Mineralogy Of the Initial Layer Of The Basal Platementioning

confidence: 83%

Biomineralization in newly settled recruits of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis

Gilis

Meibom

Domart‐Coulon

et al. 2014

Journal of Morphology

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“…A low drying temperature was chosen to avoid phase transitions in the skeletal aragonite/calcite composition (Vongsavat et al 2006;Goffredo et al 2012b). Corallite length (L: maximum axis of the oral disk), width (W: minimum axis of the oral disk) and height (h: oral-aboral axis) were measured using calipers, and dry skeletal mass (M) was measured using a precision balance (Goffredo and Chadwick-Furman 2003).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferred calcification rate of a temperate azooxanthellate caryophylliid coral along a wide latitudinal gradient

et al. 2016

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Correlations between environmental parameters (depth temperature and solar radiation) and growth parameters (bulk skeletal density, linear extension rate and net calcification rate) of the solitary azooxanthellate coral, Caryophyllia inornata, were investigated along an 8°lati-tudinal gradient on the western Italian coasts. Net calcification rate correlated positively with both bulk skeletal density and linear extension rate, showing that C. inornata allocates calcification resources evenly to thickening the skeleton and increasing linear growth. Overall, the three growth parameters did not follow gradients in the two environmental parameters, showing a different trend compared to most studies on zooxanthellate corals. However, the results are in agreement with the only previous analysis of an azooxanthellate coral, Leptopsammia pruvoti, studied along the same latitudinal gradient. In a comparison of the response to temperature of all Mediterranean species whose growth has been investigated to date, azooxanthellate corals were more tolerant to temperature increases than zooxanthellate corals.

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“…Collected corals were dried at 508C for 4 days, and then observed under a binocular microscope to remove fragments of substratum and calcareous deposits produced by other organisms. A low drying temperature was chosen to avoid phase transitions in the skeletal aragonite/calcite composition (Vongsavat et al 2006), as this problem is being investigated using these samples in diffractometric analyses (see Goffredo et al 2012a). Polyp length (L: maximum axis of the oral disc), width (W: minimum axis of the oral disc), and height (h: oral-aboral axis) were measured using a pair of calipers, and dry skeletal mass (M) was measured using a precision balance (Goffredo et al 2002(Goffredo et al , 2007Goffredo and Chadwick-Furman 2003).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal variations in biometry and population density of a Mediterranean solitary coral

Caroselli

Nanni

Levy

et al. 2015

Limnology & Oceanography

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Correlations between solar radiation, sea surface temperature (SST), biometry, and population density were assessed along a wide latitudinal gradient in the non-zooxanthellate solitary coral Caryophyllia inornata. Biometric parameters were more strongly correlated with temperature than with solar radiation as in previous studies on Mediterranean solitary corals. With increasing SST, populations were characterized by bigger polyps, and consequently by a higher percent area coverage and mass per square meter. Population abundance was not correlated with SST, similarly to the non-zooxanthellate solitary Leptopsammia pruvoti. Instead, the population density of the zooxanthellate solitary Balanophyllia europaea decreases with increasing SST. When extrapolating the relationships between biological parameters of the three species and SST, according to the projected seawater temperature increase, a higher tolerance to temperature for non-zooxanthellate species seems to be confirmed.

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The puzzling presence of calcite in skeletons of modern solitary corals from the Mediterranean Sea

Cited by 28 publications

References 64 publications

Biomineralization in newly settled recruits of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis

Biomineralization in newly settled recruits of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis

Inferred calcification rate of a temperate azooxanthellate caryophylliid coral along a wide latitudinal gradient

Latitudinal variations in biometry and population density of a Mediterranean solitary coral

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