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- Title
Latitudinal variations in biometry and population density of a Mediterranean solitary coral.
- Authors
Caroselli, Erik; Nanni, Valentina; Levy, Oren; Falini, Giuseppe; Dubinsky, Zvy; Goffredo, Stefano
- Abstract
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.
- Subjects
BIOMETRIC research; CORAL ecology; MARINE biology research; AQUATIC biology; AQUATIC ecology
- Publication
Limnology & Oceanography, 2015, Vol 60, Issue 4, p1356
- ISSN
0024-3590
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/lno.10100