Corals and Reefs: From the Beginning to an Uncertain Future

INTRODUCTION: THE REEF PHENOMENON -- INTO THE INTIMACY OF CORALS, BUILDERS OF THE SEA -- 1 TAXONOMIC AFFILIATION -- 1.1 Systematic classification of cnidarians -- 1.2 Scleractinians -- 2 MORPHOLOGY AND ANATOMY -- 2.1 Polyp anatomy -- 2.2 Reproduction -- 2.2.1 Sexual reproduction -- 2.2.2 Asexual reproduction -- 2.3 Anatomy of calcareous skeletons -- 2.4 Coral colonies -- 2.4.1 Corallite arrangement -- 2.4.2 Colony morphology -- 3 SYMBIOSIS -- 4 BIOMINERALIZATION -- 4.1 Calicoderm and biomineralization -- 4.2 Skeletons and biomineralization -- 4.3 Interface between calicoderm and skeleton -- 4.4 Principles of calcification -- 5 NUTRITION -- 5.1 Prey capture -- 5.2 Food -- 5.3 Autotrophy -- THE MODERN TIMES -- 1 BIOZONATION -- 2 REEF MORPHOTYPES -- 2.1 Fringing reefs -- 2.2 Barrier reefs -- 2.3 Atolls -- 2.4 Bank reefs -- 2.5 High carbonate islands -- 3 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION -- 3.1 Ecological control -- 3.2 Tectonic control -- 3.3 Eustatic control -- 3.4 Topographic control -- 4 REEF GROWTH -- 4.1 Vertical growth strategies -- 4.1.1 Controlling factors -- 4.1.2 Give-up growth -- 4.1.3 Keep-up growth -- 4.1.4 Catch-up mode -- 4.2 Lateral growth -- 5 MORPHO-SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES -- 5.1 Bioconstruction -- 5.2 Erosion -- 5.3 Bioaccumulation -- 5.4 Cementation -- 6 INTERNAL STRUCTURE -- 6.1 Nature and distribution of facies -- 6.1.1 Framework facies -- 6.1.2 Detrital facies -- 6.1.3 Facies distribution and hydrodynamics -- 6.2 The different structural models -- 7 A BRIEF HISTORY OF REEF DEVELOPMENT -- 7.1 The climatic context -- 7.2 History of reef development since the last deglaciation -- 7.3 Reef history throughout the Pleistocene -- 8 RECORD OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES -- 8.1 Record at the coral colony scale -- 8.1.1 Temperature -- 8.1.2 Salinometry -- 8.1.3 Rainfall -- 8.1.4 pH measurement -- 8.1.5 Photometry -- 8.1.6 Current measurement -- 8.2 Record at the scale of a reef edifice -- 8.2.1 Reef flats and micro-atolls -- 8.2.2 Arrangement of coral communities -- 8.2.3 Arrangement of reef edifices -- THE LONG MARCH OF CORALS -- 1 THE TIME OF THE ORIGINS -- 1.1 Early Earth and the first traces of life -- 1.2 Evolution of the atmosphere -- 1.3 Geochemical model of the early ocean -- 1.4 Emergence of biomineralization -- 1.5 The early calcifying organisms and cnidarians -- 1.6 The earliest corals -- 1.7 The appearance of scleractinian corals -- 2 THE TIME OF DIVERSIFICATION -- 2.1 Coral-algae symbiosis -- 2.1.1 Acquiring photosymbiosis -- 2.1.2 Evidence of photosymbiosis -- 2.1.3 Symbiosis and coloniality -- 2.2 A brief history of coral and reef building -- 2.2.1 Paleozoic times -- 2.2.2 Mesozoic times -- 2.2.3 Cenozoic times -- THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE REEF PHENOMENON -- 1 CAUSES -- 1.1 Causal relationships -- 1.2 Gas emissions and volcanic products -- 1.3 Methane emissions -- 1.4 Thermogenic gases -- 1.5 The fall of celestial bodies -- 1.6 Behaviour of organisms facing environmental disturbances -- 1.7 Disturbances induced by CO2 and ocean acidification -- 1.8 Thermal shocks -- 1.9 Disturbances induced by ocean deoxygenation -- 2 THE MAIN BIOLOGICAL CRISES -- 2.1 The Cambrian crises -- 2.2 The major crisis of the Ordovician end -- 2.3 The minor crises of the Silurian -- 2.4 The successive crises of the Devonian -- 2.5 The Permian crises -- 2.6 The Triassic crises -- 2.7 The lower Jurassic crisis -- 2.8 The Jurassic–Cretaceous transition (J–K) -- 2.9 The Cretaceous–Paleogene crisis -- 2.10 The Paleocene–Eocene crisis -- 2.11 The Eocene–Oligocene transition -- 2.12 The Oligocene end to the Plio-Quaternary -- 3 THE RESPONSE OF CORALS AND REEFS TO CRISES: FROM EXTINCTION TO RECOVERY -- 3.1 At the Ordovician end -- 3.2 During the Silurian -- 3.3 During the Devonian -- 3.4 At the Permian -- 3.5 At the Permian–Triassic boundary -- 3.6 From the middle to the end of the Triassic -- 3.7 During the Jurassic -- 3.8 From the upper Jurassic to the lower Cretaceous -- 3.9 At the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) transition -- 3.10 From the Paleocene to the Eocene -- 3.11 From the Oligocene to the Miocene -- 3.12 During the Plio-Quaternary -- 4 CONCLUSIONS -- CORAL REEFS IN THE FACE OF THEIR FATE -- 1 DISRUPTIVE AGENTS IN ACTION -- 1.1 Carbon dioxide and rising surface water temperatures -- 1.2 Carbon dioxide and its effects on the carbonate cycle -- 1.3 Carbon dioxide and ocean acidification -- 1.4 The other disruptive agents -- 2 THE RESPONSE OF CORALS AND CORAL REEFS -- 2.1 Temperature rise of surface waters -- 2.2 To acidification -- 2.3 To other disruptive agents -- 3 THE EVOLUTION OF CORAL ISLETS -- 3.1 The modes of low-lying island formation -- 3.2 Future evolution of low-lying islands: maintenance, reduction, or destruction? -- CONCLUSIONS -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDICE.