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Information about Bioerosion

Bioerosion describes the erosion of hard ocean substrates by living organisms by a number of mechanisms. Bioerosion can be caused by mollusks, polychaete worms, phoronids, sponges, crustaceans, echinoids, and fish. It can occur on coastlines, on coral reefs, and on ships. Mechanisms of bioerosion include biotic boring, drilling, rasping, and scraping.

Bioerosion of coral reefs generates the fine and white coral sand characteristic of tropical islands. The coral is converted to sand by internal bioeroders such as algae, fungi, bacteria (microborers) and sponges (Clionidae), bivalves (Lithophaga), sipunculans (Aspidosiphon), polychaetes (Eunicidae) and phoronids, generating extremely fine sediment of 10 to 100 micrometres. External bioeroders include urchins (Diadema) and chitons (Acanthopleura). These forces in concern result in a great deal of erosion. Sea urchin erosion of CaCO3 has been reported in some reefs at annual rates exceeding 20 kg/m².

Fish also erode coral while eating algae. Parrotfish cause a great deal of bioerosion, due to their well developed jaw muscle and tooth armature, and a pharyngeal mill, which grinds up ingested material into sand-sized particles. Bioerosion of reef calcium carbonate by parrotfish can range from 1017.7±186.3 kg yr-¹ (0.41±0.07 m³ yr-¹) for Chlorurus gibbus and 23.6±3.4 kg yr-¹ (9.7 10-³±1.3 10-³ m²yr-¹) for Chlorurus sordidus (Bellwood, 1995).

Bioerosion is also well known in the fossil record (Bromley, 1970), with traces of this activity stretching back well into the Precambrian (Taylor & Wilson, 2003). Macrobioerosion, which produces borings visible to the naked eye, shows two distinct evolutionary radiations. One was in the Middle Ordovician (the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution; see Wilson & Palmer, 2006) and the other in the Jurassic (see Taylor & Wilson, 2003; Bromley, 2004; Wilson, 2007). Microbioerosion also has a long fossil record and its own radiations (see Glaub & Vogel, 2004; Glaub et al., 2007).




Trypanites borings in an Upper Ordovician hardground, southeastern Indiana; see Wilson and Palmer (2001).

Petroxestes borings in an Upper Ordovician hardground, southern Ohio; see Wilson and Palmer (2006).

Gastrochaenolites borings in a Middle Jurassic hardground, southern Utah; see Wilson and Palmer (1994).

Numerous borings in a Cretaceous cobble, Faringdon, England; see Wilson (1986).

Sponge borings and encrusters on a modern bivalve shell, North Carolina.


See also

*Biogeomorphology
*Coastal erosion

References

  • Bellwood, D. R. (1995). "Direct estimate of bioerosion by two parrotfish species, Chlorurus gibbus and C. sordidus, on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia". Marine Biology 121: 419-429. DOI:10.1007/BF00349451. ISSN 0025-3162. 
  • Bromley, R. G (1970). "Borings as trace fossils and Entobia cretacea Portlock as an example", in Crimes, T.P. and Harper, J.C. (eds.): Trace Fossils, Geological Journal Special Issue 3, 49-90. 
  • Bromley, R. G. (2004). "A stratigraphy of marine bioerosion", The application of ichnology to palaeoenvironmental and stratigraphic analysis, Geological Society of London Special Publications 228. London: Geological Society, 455-481. ISBN 1862391548. 
  • Glaub, I.; Golubic, S., Gektidis, M., Radtke, G. and Vogel, K. (2007). "Microborings and microbial endoliths: geological implications", in Miller III, W (ed): Trace fossils: concepts, problems, prospects. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 368-381. ISBN 0444529497. 
  • Glaub, I.; Vogel, K. (2004). "The stratigraphic record of microborings". Fossils & Strata 51: 126-135. ISSN 0300-9491. 
  • Palmer, T. J. (1982). "Cambrian to Cretaceous changes in hardground communities". Lethaia 15: 309-323. ISSN 0024-1164. 
  • Taylor, P. D.; Wilson, M. A. (2003). "Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities". Earth-Science Reviews 62 (1-2): 1-103. DOI:10.1016/S0012-8252(02)00131-9. ISSN 0012-8252. 
  • Wilson, M. A. (1986). "Coelobites and spatial refuges in a Lower Cretaceous cobble-dwelling hardground fauna". Palaeontology 29: 691-703. ISSN 0031-0239. 
  • Wilson, M. A. (2007). "Macroborings and the evolution of bioerosion", in Miller III, W (ed): Trace fossils: concepts, problems, prospects. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 356-367. ISBN 0444529497. 
  • Wilson, M. A.; Palmer, T. J. (1994). "A carbonate hardground in the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic, SW Utah, USA) and its associated encrusters, borers and nestlers". Ichnos 3: 79-87. ISSN 1042-0940. 
  • Wilson, M. A.; Palmer, T. J. (2001). "Domiciles, not predatory borings: a simpler explanation of the holes in Ordovician shells analyzed by Kaplan and Baumiller, 2000". Palaios 16 (5): 524-525. DOI:0524:DNPBAS>2.0.CO;2 10.1669/0883-1351(2001)016<0524:DNPBAS>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0883-1351. 
  • Wilson, M. A.; Palmer, T. J. (2006). "Patterns and processes in the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution". Ichnos 13: 109-112. ISSN 1042-0940. 
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Bioerosion Website at The College of Wooster [1]

Comprehensive bioerosion bibliography compiled by Mark A. Wilson [2]
Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).
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Stream substrate (sediment) is the material that rests at the bottom of a stream. There are several classification guides. One is:
  • Mud – Comprised of silt and clay.
  • Sand – Particles between 0.06 and 2 mm in diameter.

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Mollusca
Linnaeus, 1758

Classes

Caudofoveata
Aplacophora
Polyplacophora
Monoplacophora
Bivalvia
Scaphopoda
Gastropoda
Cephalopoda
† Rostroconchia
† Helcionelloida
† ?Bellerophontida
The molluscs
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Polychaeta
Grube, 1850

Subclasses
Palpata
Scolecida

The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine.
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Phoronida
Hatschek, 1888

Genera

Phoronis
Phoronopsis
Phoronids ('Phoronida'), commonly known as horseshoe worms, are a relatively small animal phylum: twenty species are known, in two genera, Phoronis
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Porifera
Grant in Todd, 1836

Classes
Calcarea
Hexactinellida
Demospongiae
The sponges or poriferans (from Latin "pore" and "to bear") are animals of the phylum Porifera. Porifera translates to "Pore-bearer".
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crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species [1], and are usually treated as a subphylum [2].
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Echinodermata
Klein, 1734

Subphyla & Classes
  • Homalozoa Gill & Caster, 1960
Homostelea
Homoiostelea
Stylophora
Ctenocystoidea Robison & Sprinkle, 1969
  • Crinozoa

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Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
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coast is defined as the part of the land adjoining or near the ocean. A coastline is properly a line on a map indicating the disposition of a coast, but the word is often used to refer to the coast itself.
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Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters with little to no nutrients in the water. High nutrient levels such as that found in runoff from agricultural areas can harm the reef by encouraging the growth of algae.
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ship is a large watercraft capable of offshore navigation. Ships may be operated by:
  • Governments (military, rescue, research, transportation)
  • Private companies and institutions (transportation, offshore resources, research)
  • Individuals (large yachts, research).

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Coral sand is sand of particles originating in tropical and sub-tropical marine environments from bioerosion of limestone skeletal material of marine organisms. One example of this process is that of parrot fishes which bite off pieces of coral, digest the living tissue, and
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phytoplankton — provide the food base for most marine food chains. In very high densities (so-called algal blooms) these algae may discolor the water and outcompete or poison other life forms.
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Eukarya
Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
(unranked) Opisthokonta

Kingdom: Fungi
(L., 1753) R.T. Moore, 1980[1]

Subkingdom/Phyla

Chytridiomycota
Blastocladiomycota

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Bacteria

Phyla

Actinobacteria
Aquificae
Chlamydiae
Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi
Chloroflexi
Chrysiogenetes
Cyanobacteria
Deferribacteres
Deinococcus-Thermus
Dictyoglomi
Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria
Firmicutes
Fusobacteria
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Porifera
Grant in Todd, 1836

Classes
Calcarea
Hexactinellida
Demospongiae
The sponges or poriferans (from Latin "pore" and "to bear") are animals of the phylum Porifera. Porifera translates to "Pore-bearer".
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Bivalvia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses

Anomalosdesmata
Cryptodonta
Heterodonta
Paleoheterodonta
Palaeotaxodonta
Pteriomorphia
and see text
Bivalves are mollusks belonging to the class Bivalvia.
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Lithophaga
Röding, 1798

Species
See text.

Lithophaga, the datemussels, are a genus of medium-sized saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae.
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Sipuncula
Rafinesque, 1814

Classes, Orders and Families
  • Class Sipunculidea
  • Order Sipunculiformes
  • Family Sipunculidae

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Eunicidae

Genera
  • Eunice
  • Euniphysa
  • Lysidice
  • Marphysa
  • Nematonereis
  • Palola
  • Paramarphysa
Eunicidae is a family of worms.
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Phoronida
Hatschek, 1888

Genera

Phoronis
Phoronopsis
Phoronids ('Phoronida'), commonly known as horseshoe worms, are a relatively small animal phylum: twenty species are known, in two genera, Phoronis
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Urchin is the old English term for hedgehog. As such, it is applied to many things that take a similar form to a hedgehog:
  • Sea urchins are spiny sea creatures that are round and prickly like hedgehogs.

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Diadema
Humpfreys, 1797

Species
  • Diadema palmeri
  • Diadema savignyi
  • Diadema setosum
  • Diadema antillarum
  • Diadema paucispinum
  • Diadema mexicanum
  • Diadema ascensionis

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Polyplacophora
Blainville, 1816

Families

See text.

Chitons are mollusks of the class Polyplacophora that live near the edge of the ocean in most of the world, but some species have been found in deep water.
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Echinoidea
Leske, 1778

Subclasses
  • Subclass Perischoechinoidea
  • Order Cidaroida (pencil urchins)
  • Subclass Euechinoidea

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Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound, with the chemical formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found as rock in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, and eggshells.
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phytoplankton — provide the food base for most marine food chains. In very high densities (so-called algal blooms) these algae may discolor the water and outcompete or poison other life forms.
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Scaridae

Genera

Bolbometopon
Calotomus
Cetoscarus
Chlorurus
Cryptotomus
Hipposcarus
Leptoscarus
Nicholsina
Scarus
Sparisoma
Parrotfish
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