I asked my professor this question and all he said was "they bring lots of beauty and reef-building potential." I'd like to know more in-depth about how coralline red algae contribute to their ecosystems.
Encrusting (or non-articulated) calcified red marine algae belonging to the Corallinaceae and Sporolithaceae play a fundamental role in the functioning and evolution of the coral ecosystem. They participate with hermatypic corals (corals with symbionts) in the construction of the coral structure. The Corallinales bring the limestone raw material (the cement) and structure the entire reef; this is particularly visible in areas of strong hydrodynamics where the corals will tend to be less developed or even broken. Corallinales can represent up to more than 40% of reef biomass.
In addition, the Corallinales form plurigeneric assemblages characteristic of a type of reef environment. Due to the limestone framework, the Corallinales fossilize very well. They, therefore, constitute a group of particular interest for the study of sedimentary archives and are considered to be good indicators for the reconstruction of paleoclimates and paleoenvironments. They are excellent stratigraphic markers of the Quaternary era. The Corallinales are in a way the witnesses of the evolution of the reefs.
Corallinales store carbon both through photosynthesis activities and through thallus calcification processes. At the scale of the planet and more particularly of the oceans, the formations of calcareous algae represent one of the largest carbon storages in the biosphere.
Other roles can still be attributed to the Corallinales:
- they offer a set of grazing organisms, such as parrotfish, sea urchins, limpets, polyplacophores (molluscs) etc., nutritive support,
- they promote and condition certain stages in the development of marine organisms (larvae of molluscs, sea urchins, corals),
- they constitute for various fixed species a hanging substrate allowing them to develop,
- they harbour a community of free-living invertebrates (crustaceans, molluscs, etc.) in the microanfactuosities of the thallus,
- finally, their calcareous skeleton often shelters microflora and microfauna of perforating or endolithic species.
The diversity, richness and development of biological reef communities (algae, fish, molluscs, etc.) are therefore intimately linked to the Corallinales.
Regards
I'm surprised your Prof was so vague (unless you caught him at a bad time!).
Coralline red algae play really important roles in coral reef ecosystems. They are primary producers in marine (and freshwater) environments and are therefore a food source for some herbivorous species - especially some molluscs. They secrete calcium carbonate skeletons which are structurally important in the context of reef establishment and building, architectural diversity (very important links between this and fish and invertebrate diversity), larval settlement of corals and fish nursery habitats.
I hope this gives you a starting point to work from. I could go on about carbonate production and their vulnerability to ocean acidification, but I'll leave it there for now.
Eukaryotic Life Inhabits Rhodolith-forming Coralline Algae ...
https://www.nature.com › scientific reports › articles
by S Krayesky-Self · 2017
You can go through the above article
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Materials Science
- Materials
- Polymers