I am trying to understand what drives bioerosion by grazing organisms. I understand that algae are a major food source, but there are often problems in the literature distinguishing between basic herbivory grazing and BIOEROSIONAL grazing. My question is specifically related to what controls bioerosional grazing in reefs with depth, especially related to food sources. Please let me know if you can help.
Well, talking about reefcarbonates, grazers usually go for both if they are capapble of scraping, as parrotfish and most sea urchins are. Whenever you see scrape marks, they have eaten epi- and endolithic algae, since nearly all dead carbonates in the euphotic zone are inhabited by epi- and endoliths. Usually the biomass of epilithic algae exceeds the endolithic algal layer, which rarely is thicker than 1mm max.
Another thing are endolithic polychaetes, shells or sponges. Their biomass is much larger, but I suspect going for them would need a specialized grazer.
My guess is, that if you look at single grazer species (morphology of the scraping apparatus, diet), latitude, waterdepth and carbonate structure, you wil find different control factors.
There are many publications on the diet of parrotfish if you are interested in that.
Cheers, Marcos
Marcos, which publications on the diet of BIOERODING parrotfish (besides Bruggemann). I want to see if macroalgae in specific may partially control where the bioeroding parrotfish may be found. Thanks.
Take a look at this: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265595466_Fish_corallivory_on_a_pocilloporid_reef_and_experimental_coral_responses_to_predation?_iepl%5BviewId%5D=fOVae5eOXnefBV6SdKiikh1ysxwR5U8yMZ0r&_iepl%5Bcontexts%5D%5B0%5D=prfhpi&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BstandardItemCount%5D=4&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BuserSelectedItemCount%5D=0&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BtopHighlightCount%5D=2&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BtopHighlightIndex%5D=2&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BfeaturedItem2of2%5D=1&_iepl%5BtargetEntityId%5D=PB%3A265595466&_iepl%5BinteractionType%5D=publicationTitle
Article Fish corallivory on a pocilloporid reef and experimental cor...
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