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There was biological disturbance on Pleistocene coral reefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Les Kaufman
Les Kaufman*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
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Abstract

The threespot damselfish, Eupomacentrus planifrons, is an algal-gardener and a major cause of biological disturbance on modern Caribbean coral reefs. The hermatypic coral Acropora cervicornis produces characteristic gall-like growths called “chimneys,” in response to damage by the threespot. Chimneys have been discovered on coral fragments excavated from the Jamaican Falmouth Formation, an Upper Pleistocene reef assemblage. This indicates that algal gardening, and thus biological disturbance, has been an integral aspect of Caribbean coral reefs since at least the last sea-level stand, some 125,000 yr BP.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , Fall 1981 , pp. 527 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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