Regeneration and Aspects of Spatial Competition in the Scleractinian Corals Agaricia agaricites and Montastrea annularis
Bak R, Brouns J, Heys F. 1977. Regeneration and Aspects of Spatial Competition in the Scleractinian Corals Agaricia agaricites and Montastrea annularis. Pages 143-148. In Proceedings, Third International Coral Reef Symposium. Miami, FL. 1977. Proceedings of the International Coral Reef Symposium
Regeneration of corals was studied at the fringing reef on the southwest coast of Curacao. Three types of circular lesions were inflicted in situ on colonies of Agaricia agaricites and Montastrea annularis: 1 cm^2 tissue lesion, 1 cm^2 tissue + skeleton lesion, 5 cm^2 tissue+ skeleton lesion. All lesions were surrounded by 10 cm living coral tissue. These artificial lesions were immediately colonized by fleshy algae. The second most important colonizers were clionid sponges. The regenerating coral tissue can overgrow the colonizing organisms. One regeneration mechanism was found in Agaricia agaricites and two different mechanisms were observed in Montastrea annularis. Montastrea annularis grows over lesions faster than Agaricia agaricites. Both species recover small scars (1 cm^2) much faster than large (5 cm^2) ones. In Agaricia agaricites recovery was faster when only tissue was removed compared with damage to tissue + skeleton. In Montastrea annularis the opposite is the case. This has consequences for the impact of coral predators on different coral species.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Bak, R.; Brouns, J.; Heys, F.
- Units
- SFCN
- Keywords
- Benthic organisms, Competition, Curacao, Damage, lesions