Growth patterns in mesophotic octocorals: Timing the branching process in the highly-valuable Mediterranean Corallium rubrum

Benedetti, Maria Carla; Priori, Cristina; Erra, Fabrizio; Santangelo, Giovanni

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2015.12.026

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Most scientific knowledge and publications refer to shallow water, small-sized, and crowded populations (e.g., Santangelo & Abbiati, 2001;Tsounis et al, 2007;Costantini et al, 2007a, b), which are not of commercial interest. Recently, few studies addressed Northwestern Mediterranean Sea deep-water red coral populations (Priori et al, 2013;Costantini et al, 2013;Angiolillo et al, 2016;Benedetti, et al, 2016;Cau et al, 2016), but the gap in knowledge on commercially harvested colonies is still large. In this study, for the first time an active collaboration between Tunisian commercial harvesters and scientists has been successfully pursued in order to collect scientific data to support the development of an appropriate strategy for the management and conservation of Tunisian red coral resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Age of the colonies ranged between 10 and 100 years, based on colony growth Priori et al, 2013). However, estimates of the growth rate of red coral colonies are still debated, especially concerning the variation related to biological, ecological, and habitat features (Priori et al 2013;Benedetti et al, 2016;Boavida et al 2016). Collected colonies showed a mean height of 100 mm and a branching pattern typical of old and highly reproductive colonies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For decades, this impediment prevented gathering information about commercial stocks. In the last years, studies on deep populations of C. rubrum in the northwest of the Mediterranean Sea have been conducted (Priori et al, 2013;Costantini et al, 2013;Angiolillo et al, 2016;Benedetti, et al, 2016;Cau et al, 2016) mainly in relation to the rising concern about the conservation of the species.…”

Section: Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Does historical harvesting affect colony size distribution and genetic diversity in Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758)? Evidences from the Southern Mediterranean commercial banks

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The precious octocoral Corallium rubrum has a long history of exploitation in the Mediterranean Sea. Historically, harvesting followed the ''boom and bust'' cycles whereby newly discovered beds were overexploited to depletion. In the past, most of the red coral harvesting came form France, Italy, and Spain. Today, landing data show that Tunisia is the third largest supplier of C. rubrum. The aim of this study was to asses whether and how the exploitation effort affects size distribution and genetic diversity of Tunisian commercial populations. Biometric data and microsatellite markers were used to characterize 113 colonies collected on nine commercial banks. Size and branching pattern indicate that collected colonies are up to 100 years old with a high reproductive rate. Nevertheless, 38% of the colonies were undersized according to FAO-GFCM recommendations (basal diameter \7 mm). Tunisian populations showed a weak genetic structuring and significant differentiation between coastal and offshore populations. Harvesting did not alter the structure of red coral populations. However, technological improvement and intensive harvesting of Tunisian banks, if not properly managed, may lead to their rapid depletion, causing long-lasting shifts in population demography and genetic structure, and the loss of this valuable resource.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does historical harvesting affect colony size distribution and genetic diversity in Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758)? Evidences from the Southern Mediterranean commercial banks

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Growth rate (colony basal diameter) decreases with age in Mediterranean populations of red corals ( Corallium rubrum ; [35–37]). Branch extension rates showed no relationship to colony size in the common shallow-water Caribbean gorgonian Plexaura flexuosa , but whole colony relative growth decreased with increasing colony size presumably so that larger, more fecund colonies could allocate more energy for reproduction [38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Five-Year, In Situ Growth Study on Shallow-Water Populations of the Gorgonian Octocoral Calcigorgia spiculifera in the Gulf of Alaska

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gorgonian octocorals are the most abundant corals in Alaska where they provide important structural habitat for managed species of demersal fish and invertebrates. Fifty-nine gorgonian species have been reported from Alaska waters but little is known about their life history characteristics to help us gauge their ability to recover from seafloor disturbance. Colonies of the holaxonian Calcigorgia spiculifera were tagged beginning in 1999 at three sites in Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, using scuba and their growth measured annually for up to 5 years. Colonies were video recorded, and computer image analysis tools provided calibration of video images for measuring the length of several branches. Growth data indicate that C. spiculifera grows much slower (6.0 mm yr-1) than other gorgonians in Alaska for which there are data and that intraspecific growth is highly variable. We fit a Bayesian linear mixed-effects model that showed that average colony growth was significantly reduced with warmer temperature and presence of necrosis. The model further indicated that growth may slow among larger (older) colonies. Based on these results and previous studies, we propose that gorgonian growth rates are taxonomically constrained at the Suborder level and that holaxonians grow the slowest followed by scleraxonians and calcaxonians (2–3 times as fast). Findings of this study indicate that it would take approximately 60 years for C. spiculifera to grow to its maximum size and depending on the location and size of the parental standing stock, at least one and possibly 10 additional years for recruitment to occur. Our results further indicate that colonies that are injured, perhaps chronically in areas of frequent disturbance, grow at slower rates and if the current trend of ocean warming continues then we can expect these corals to grow more slowly, and the habitats they form will require more time to recover from disturbance.

show abstract

“…Because of the wide bathymetric range of this species, which leads to huge sampling limitations for deeper populations (Genin et al, 1992), little attention is given to the deeper populations (50-200 m ) (Rossi et al, 2008;Cau et al, 2015bCau et al, , 2016Angiolillo et al, 2016;Benedetti et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive patterns in deep versus shallow populations of the precious Mediterranean gorgonian Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) (Sardinia, central-western Mediterranean)

Porcu¹,

Follesa²,

Cannas³

et al. 2017

Medit. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study quantifies the main reproductive features of the long-lived red coral Corallium rubrum, an octocoral endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and neighboring Atlantic areas and one of the most valuable of all marine species, at different depths (38-40 m versus 96-115 m) in north-western Sardinian waters (Central-Western Mediterranean Sea). Different population structures between depths were observed with shallow colonies smaller (in basal diameter and height) than deeper ones. Both populations were all gonochoric at polyp and colony level and fertile. The sex-ratio was balanced in the deep red corals while in the shallow ones it was significantly biased towards female probably in response to perturbations such as mass mortality events more common at shallow levels. Deep and shallow colonies were found to have a synchronous female sexual products development in the two depths investigated. C. rubrum produced large female sexual products in both depth intervals in relationship with its reproductive mode, confirming a long oogenic development. In contrast to reproductive timing, the volume occupied by female sexual products per polyp was different between the populations, being higher in the deep than in the shallow populations. C. rubrum exhibited a reproductive strategy characterized by a relative low number of female sexual products per polyp revealing significant differences among the two depth ranges analyzed with a lower mean value of sexual products in the shallow colonies (mean fecundity per polyp: 1.14) than in the deeper ones (mean fecundity per polyp: 2.09). These results indicate differences in reproductive parameters such as sexual products distribution and reproductive output (fecundity) were observed between shallow and deep populations of C. rubrum, in particular within deep dwelling populations.

show abstract

Growth patterns in mesophotic octocorals: Timing the branching process in the highly-valuable Mediterranean Corallium rubrum

Cited by 28 publications

References 17 publications

Does historical harvesting affect colony size distribution and genetic diversity in Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758)? Evidences from the Southern Mediterranean commercial banks

Does historical harvesting affect colony size distribution and genetic diversity in Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758)? Evidences from the Southern Mediterranean commercial banks

A Five-Year, In Situ Growth Study on Shallow-Water Populations of the Gorgonian Octocoral Calcigorgia spiculifera in the Gulf of Alaska

Reproductive patterns in deep versus shallow populations of the precious Mediterranean gorgonian Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) (Sardinia, central-western Mediterranean)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About