Benefits and limits of x-ray micro-computed tomography for visualization of colonization and bioerosion of shelled organisms

Abstract

Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) allows non-invasive imaging of internal structures of various objects. Micro-CT devices (x-ray microscope, CT scanner) utilize x-rays to see inside the object and enable its three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. Here, a large set of shells (>60 specimens) of varying composition and origin were visualized using micro-CT to test its efficiency for investigation of (micro-)borings and other colonization structures. The set covered various materials and structures of marine shells, from the Ordovician to recent, some of them being influenced by diagenetic changes; it comprised internal moulds of invertebrate body fossils preserved in the siliceous nodules, bryozoan colony from marls to clayey limestones, epibiontic interactions of bryozoan colonies and conulariid specimens with apatitic periderm from clay limestones sediments, calcareous shells of platycerid gastropods from organodetritic limestones, microborings in peloidal grainstone, calcitic or calcitic/aragonitic serpulid tube worms, organic-walled lacustrine egg-like bodies, and recent foraminiferas from the Mediterranean. We focused on various structures from minute microborings to macroborings, burrows, and epibionts. Optimal settings of micro-CT devices for different types of shells combined with different types of borings and their fillings, burrows, and epibionts are suggested. Three-dimensional visualization of the surfaces of fossil shelled organisms using surface modelling is proposed. The main benefits of micro-CT include its non-destructive nature (measurements can be repeated, valuable specimens can be preserved for further studies, etc.) and reasonable 3D visualization of inner structures. On the other hand, resolutions of less than 1 µm cannot be effectively achieved, and this may limit studies on microborings by bacteria and certain fungi.

Exploring confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and fluorescence staining as a tool for imaging and quantifying traces of marine microbioerosion and their trace‐making microendoliths

“…Such calculations have so far only been possible using datasets generated with time-and cost-intensive microcomputed tomography (μCT) (e.g. Färber et al, 53,54,55 ), whereby the spatial resolution of CLSM is to be considered superior.…”

Tomodensitometry as a Tool to Detect and Study Two Agrilus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Species

“…It is a non-destructive and non-invasive imagery technique classically used for medical purposes. Nonetheless, it can be used in different research fields, including oceanography [9,10], paleontology [11], and even museum conservation [12]. CT-scan has been used in forest entomology to study the whitespotted sawyer, Monochamus scutellatus (Say) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), damage progression in burned logs after a wildfire [13].…”

Bioerosion and fungal colonization of the invasive foraminiferan <i>Amphistegina lobifera</i> in a Mediterranean seagrass meadow

“…from various organic substrates. For historical and practical reasons, bioerosion and decomposition have been typically studied by different research communities (paleontologists and biogeologists vs. biologists of different specializations) that use different methodological approaches (for bioerosion, see Golubić et al, 1970;Hirsch et al, 1995;Golubić et al, 2019;Heřmanová et al, 2020, and many others).…”