Bioerosion and its relationship with skeletal density of Platygyra daedalea and Porites harrisoni in Larak Island, Persian Gulf

Abstract

As active systems, coral reefs maintain the balance between their growth and erosion. While many studies have focused on the growth of coral reefs, some have also addressed the coral erosion process (Hutchings et al., 2005). Bioerosion is an important factor in controlling the growth rate of coral reefs, the amount of which varies with abiotic and biotic factors such as food access, contamination with organic matter, fish bioerosion, water clarity, and sedimentation (Risk et al., 1995). In a healthy coral reef, the processes of the growth and loss of the reef are in equilibrium, but this balance is lost as the reef gradually gets more exposed to erosion when the loss takes over the growth (Holmes, 2000;Pari et al., 2002). This phenomenon will have many social and economic consequences, including loss of fish habitat, reduced tourism, and coastal erosion due to waves.The mechanism of bioeroders has been widely studied (Kiene & Hutchings, 1994;Zundelevich et al., 2007). Mechanical or physical erosion is carried out by scratching the coral skeleton with the teeth in polychaetes or sponge spicule, and chemical erosion is caused by biological activities such as the production of metabolic acids or the