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Bioerosion

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Bioerosion can be defined as the destruction and removal of consolidated mineral or lithic substrate by the direct action of organisms (Neumann, 1966) and is complemented by physical and chemical processes of erosion. This review deals only with the removal of substrate from coral reefs and concentrates on modern day reefs. However, there is an extensive literature on boring organisms on fossil reefs, for a review see Tapanila (2008) and the agents and mechanisms of boring seem similar on these reefs to those occurring on modern day reefs (Wood, 1999).

Introduction

Bioerosion is a natural process occurring on all reefs although rates and agents may vary across the reef and together with reef growth which also varies, results in them being dynamic systems. It is the balance between these two processes which determines the overall shape of the reef together with physical and chemical erosion of the coral substrate. Bioerosion includes the removal of surface substrate by...

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the following for providing references and comments on various drafts of this manuscript, Christine Schönberg, David Bellwood, Winston Ponder, Klaus Rützler, Ian Macintyre and Howard Choat and to David Hopley for the invitation to contribute to this book.

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  1. Senior Principal Research Scientist, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, 2010, NSW, Sydney, Australia

    Pat Hutchings

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  1. James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    David Hopley

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Hutchings, P. (2011). Bioerosion. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_5

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