DEPTH-RELATED CARBONATE CYCLING IN A MODERN REEF: ST. JOHN, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

摘要

INTRODUCTION The literature is replete with discussions of coral-reef decline in response to human exploitation, overfishing, nutrient loading and, most recently, climate change (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007; Hughes, 1994; Pandolfi et al., 2011; Pandolfi et al., 2005). Over the past decade, discussions have increasingly considered whether the constructive processes that have built Ho-locene reefs might be supplanted by bioerosion, the aggregate destruction of reef surface by grazing and burrowing organisms. Recent investigations suggest that this may already be occurring and that Caribbean reefs are becoming flatter and less spatially complex in response to accelerating destructive processes (Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009). This will have significant consequences for both the organisms that inhabit the reef and humans living near them.