Corals are small animals that form a symbiotic relationship with algae. The algae produce sugars for the corals and are in turn provided with needed nutrients and protection from predators.
But it doesn't explain where the amazing diversity of fish, mollusks, crustaceans, everything else comes from. As far as I can tell, the whole point of the coral's success is that their hard skeleton protects them from all but the most specialized predators.
So if the corals don't directly add energy input to the coral reef ecosystem, what is it that makes the reefs so productive and diverse? Or, put another way, what makes a coral reef environment more productive than simple phytoplankton floating in the open ocean?
Los arrecifres de coral se consideran el ecosistema más rico y productivo del planeta, comparable solo con el bosque tropical lluvioso por la alta diversidad biológica que albergan. Las algas (zooxantelas) que se encuentran en simbiosis con los corales adquieren catabolitos del coral como fósforo y nitrógeno, produciendo oxígeno y compuestos de carbono (glicerol, alanina, lípidos y ácidos grasos) aprovechables por los pólipos. La productividad primaria en estos ecosistemas está determinada en parte por la fijación del carbono, gran parte de la cual ocurre a través de la fotosíntesis realizada por las zooxantelas, en fin la productividad primaria de los arrecifes de coral es muy alta ya que producen una gran cantidad de biomasa.
Part of the answer is that the reef provides physical structure - caves, cavities, crevices - providing shelter and surface for attachment for all sorts of organisms.
Hi Asiel,
You have asked a question that has fascinated coral reef scientists since Darwin’s time. In fact your question has been loosely coined as the “Coral Reef Paradox”. What has fascinate scientist is how is it possible for corals to live in nutrient-poor oceanic waters yet thrive. Indeed, many have equated coral reefs to the oasis in the oceans. Please note that while many coral reefs flourish in nutrient poor oceanic waters there are many coral reefs that also flourish in nutrient rich coastal waters. The answer to your question is multifaceted and over the years has generated many papers. Here is a short list that I hope will help you in your search.
https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_5/b_fdi_20-21/27584.pdf
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39860474.pdf
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanography/faculty/sansone/Tribble%20et%20al%201994%20Coral%20Reefs.pdf
https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.2012.57.2.0401
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3fe9/5db7dbad17bc029228f8be6482ea0d9a89d7.pdf#page=15
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9214/bd93e541f6825d6a8adb18d4795172f77110.pdf#page=27
https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/180/m180p131.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44747382/Nitrogen_Cycling_in_Coral_Reef_Environme20160414-7962-25h80u.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DNitrogen_Cycling_in_Coral_Reef_Environme.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20200317%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200317T200134Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=6dd23ea91cee78798dbb89b6f81e916d3a3f07fa4ec0af5295f6d396094d8a90
https://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1496&=&context=oa_dissertations&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fscholar.google.com%252Fscholar%253Fstart%253D10%2526q%253D%252522coral%252Breef%252Bparadox%252522%2526hl%253Den%2526as_sdt%253D0%252C5#search=%22coral%20reef%20paradox%22
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/108
I hope this will help you in your future conversation on this fascinating subject.
Cheers,
Tomas
https://www.slideshare.net/jitenderanduat/productivity-of-coral-reefs-46251474
https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/
Ecosystems describe the interaction between flora, fauna, human beings and the chemical composition and physical forces in nature. In case of reefs the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere are involved.
How can you expect a simple answer to such a complex question with far more unknowns than equations? “Paradox” is the most appropriate technical term to describe the current situation and setting; each and every study will create another paradox. You have to break down the entire issue to simple pieces and then build it bottom-up again like a mosaic.
H.G.Dill
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