Abstract
On the island of Rhodes (Greece) the late Pliocene shallow-water siliciclastic deposits of the Kritika Member (Rhodes Formation) contain well-preserved leaves and rhizomes of the Mediterranean endemic marine phanerogam Posidonia oceanica. The leaf moulds are found on the bedding planes of fine-grained sands, whereas the rhizomes are preserved in life position within coarse-grained sediments.
The bryozoan community occurring either on the leaf moulds or as zoarial fragments in the sediment containing them consists of 25 species. Most of them belong to the membraniporiforms, while the cellariiforms are represented by numerous segments. Rare fragments of adeoniform and vinculariiform colonies also occur.
The community of bryozoans associated with the rhizomes comprises 49 species. The most common fragments belong to an adeoniform species, whereas membraniporiforms and cellariiforms are only moderately abundant. The vinculariiforms and celleporiforms are relatively uncommon, whereas the catenicelliforms, lunulitiforms and reteporiforms are scarce.
In the studied beds, bryozoans are the most diverse group of invertebrates and are represented by a total of 58 species, most of them extant. A comparison with present-day Posidonia oceanica meadows shows that many species are common to both seagrass communities. Three extant species are even obligative epiphytes of P. oceanica leaves. Several other species, although not associated exclusively with this marine phanerogam, generally thrive on its leaves and rhizomes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Balata D, Nesti U, Piazzi L, Cinelli F (2007) Patterns of spatial variability of seagrass epiphytes in the north-west Mediterranean Sea. Mar Biol 151:2025–2035
Bone Y, James NP (1993) Bryozoans as carbonate sediment producers on the cool-water Lacepede Shelf, Southern Australia. Sediment Geol 86(3–4):247–271
Casola E, Scardi M, Mazzella L, Fresi E (1987) Structure of the epiphytic community of Posidonia oceanica leaves in a shallow meadow. PSZNI Mar Ecol 8(4):285–296
Cigliano M, Cocito S, Gambi MC (2007) Epibiosis of Calpensia nobilis (Esper) (Bryozoa: Cheilostomida) on Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile rhizomes: effects on borer colonization and morpho-chronological features of the plant. Aquat Bot 86:30–36
Cinelli F, Cormaci M, Furnari G, Mazzella L (1984) Epiphytic macroflora of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile leaves around the island of Ischia (Gulf of Naples). In: Boudouresque CF, Jeudy de Grissac A, Olivier J (eds) International workshop Posidonia oceanica beds. GIS Posidonie, Marseille, pp 91–99
Cornée JJ, Moissette P, Joannin S, Suc JP, Quillévéré F, Krijgsman W, Hilgen F, Koskeridou E, Münch P, Lécuyer C, Desvignes P (2006a) Tectonic and climatic controls on coastal sedimentation: the Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene of northeastern Rhodes, Greece. Sediment Geol 187:159–181
Cornée JJ, Münch P, Quillévéré F, Moissette P, Vasiliev I, Krijgsman W, Verati C, Lécuyer C (2006b) Timing of Late Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene tectonic events in Rhodes (Greece) inferred from magneto-biostratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar dating of a volcaniclastic layer. Earth Planet Sci Lett 250(1–2):281–291
Di Geronimo I (1984) Livelli a Posidonia nel Pleistocene inferiore della Sicilia. In: Olivier J, Boudouresque CF, Jeudy de Grissac A (eds) International workshop Posidonia oceanica beds. GIS Posidonie, Marseille, pp 15–21
Eugène C (1978) Etude de l’épifaune des herbiers de Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile du littoral provençal. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Marseille, Marseille, pp 141
Fritel PH (1909) Sur l’attribution au genre Posidonia de quelques Caulinites de l’Eocène du bassin de Paris. Bull Soc Géol Fr 9:380–385
Fritel PH (1913) Sur les Zostères du Calcaire grossier et sur l’assimilation au genre Cymodoceites Bureau des prétendues algues du même gisement. Bull Soc Géol Fr 13:354–358
Froede CR Jr (2002) Rhizolith evidence in support of a late Holocene sea-level highstand at least 0.5 m higher than present at Key Biscayne, Florida. Geol 30(3):203–206
Gautier YV (1954) Sur l’Electra pilosa des feuilles de Posidonies. Vie et Milieu 1:66–70
Gautier YV (1962) Recherches écologiques sur les bryozoaires chilostomes en Méditerranée occidentale. Recl Trav Station Marine d’Endoume 24(38):1–434
Geraci S, Cattaneo R (1980) Il popolamento a briozoi (Cheilostomata) della prateria a Posidonia di Procchio (Isola d’Elba). Ann Mus Civ Storia Nat Giacomo Doria di Genova 83:107–125
Hageman SJ, Bone Y, McGowran B, James NP (1997) Bryozoan colonial growth-forms as paleoenvironmental indicators: evaluation of methodology. Palaios 12:405–419
Hanken NM, Bromley RG, Miller J (1996) Plio-Pleistocene sedimentation in coastal grabens, north-east Rhodes, Greece. Geol J 31(3):271–296
Harmelin JG (1973) Bryozoaires de l’herbier de Posidonies de l’île de Port-Cros. Rap Comm Int Mer Méditerr 21(9):675–677
Harmelin JG (1976) Le sous-ordre des Tubuliporina (Bryozoaires Cyclostomes) en Méditerranée. Écologie et systématique. Mém de l’Inst Océanogr 10:1–326
Harmelin JG (1988) Les Bryozoaires, de bons indicateurs bathymétriques en paléoécologie ? Géol Méditerr 15(1):49–63
Hayward PJ (1974) Studies on the cheilostome bryozoan fauna of the Aegean island of Chios. J Nat Hist 8:369–402
Hayward PJ (1975) Observations on the bryozoan epiphytes of Posidonia oceanica from the island of Chios (Aegean Sea). In: Pouyet S (ed) Bryozoa 1974. Documents des laboratoires de géologie Lyon: H. S 3(2), pp 347–356
Ivany LC, Portell RW, Jones DS (1990) Animal-plant relationships and paleobiogeography of an Eocene seagrass community from Florida. Palaios 5:244–258
Joannin S, Cornée JJ, Moissette P, Suc JP, Koskeridou E, Lécuyer C, Buisine C, Kouli E, Ferry S (2007) Changes in vegetation and marine environments in the eastern Mediterranean (Rhodes Island, Greece) during the Early and Middle Pleistocene. J Geol Soc London 164:1119–1131
Kerneïs A (1961) Contribution à l’étude faunistique et écologique des herbiers de Posidonies de la région de Banyuls. Vie et Milieu 11(2):145–187
Laurent L, Laurent J (1926) Étude sur une plante fossile des dépôts du Tertiaire marin du sud des Célèbes, Cymodocea micheloti (Wat.) nob. Jaarbuch Mijnwezen Nederland und Indie 54:167–190
Lumbert SH, Den Hartog C, Phillips RC, Olsen FS (1984) The occurrence of fossil seagrasses in the Avon Park Formation (late Middle Eocene), Levy County, Florida (U.S.A.). Aquat Bot 20(1-2):121–129
Meulenkamp JE, De Mulder EFJ, Van De Weerd A (1972) Sedimentary history and paleogeography of the Late Cenozoic of the Island of Rhodos. Z Dtsch Geol Ges 123:541–553
Moissette P (2000) Changes in bryozoan assemblages and bathymetric variations. Examples from the Messinian of northwest Algeria. Palaeogeogr Palaeclimatol Palaeoecol 155:305–326
Moissette P, Koskeridou E, Cornée JJ, Guillocheau F, Lécuyer C (2007) Spectacular preservation of seagrasses and seagrass-associated communities from the Pliocene of Rhodes, Greece. Palaios 22:200–211
Mutti E, Orombelli G, Pozzi R (1970) Geological studies on the Dodecanese Islands (Aegean Sea). IX. Geological map of the island of Rhodes (Greece); explanatory notes. Ann Géol Pays Héll 22:79–226
Nelson CS, Hyden FM, Keane SL, Leask WL, Gordon DP (1988) Application of bryozoan zoarial growth-form studies in facies analysis of non-tropical carbonate deposits in New Zealand. Sediment Geol 60(1–4):301–322
Nelson CS, Freiwald A, Titschack J, List S (2001) Lithostratigraphy and sequence architecture of temperate mixed siliciclastic-carbonate facies in a new Plio-Pleistocene section at Plimiri, Rhodes Island (Greece). Occas Report 25. Department of Earth Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, pp 1–55
Pérès JM, Picard J (1964) Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthique de la Mer Méditerranée. Rec Trav Station marine d’Endoume 31(47):1–137
Radócz G (1972) Zostera-bryozoa-Spirorbis biocönózis a borsodi miocénből (A Zostera-bryozoa-Spirorbis biocoenosis from the Miocene of the Borsod Basin). Magyar Állami Földtani Intézet Évi Jelentése, pp 55–63 (in Hungarian, English abstract)
Ribes T, Gracia MP (1991) Foraminifères des herbiers de posidonies de la Méditerranée occidentale. Vie et Milieu 41(2/3):117–126
Romero Colmenero L, Sánchez Lizaso JL (1999) Effects of Calpensia nobilis (Esper 1796) (Bryozoa: Cheilostomida) on the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. Aquat Bot 62(4):217–223
Smith AM (1995) Palaeoenvironmental interpretation using bryozoans: a review. Geol Soc London Spec Publ 83: 231–243
Titschack J, Nelson CS, Beck T, Freiwald A, Radtke U (2008) Sedimentary evolution of a Late Pleistocene temperate red algal reef (Coralligène) on Rhodes, Greece: correlation with global sea-level fluctuations. Sediment 55:1747–1776
Voigt E (1981) Upper Cretaceous bryozoan-seagrass association in the Maastrichtian of The Netherlands. In: Larwood GP, Nielsen C (eds) Recent and fossil Bryozoa, Olsen & Olsen. Fredensborg, Denmark
Voigt E, Domke W (1955) Thalassocharis bosqueti Debey ex Miquell, ein strukturell erhaltenes Seagrass aus der holländischen Kreide. Mitt Geol Staatsinst Hambg 24:87–102
Zabala M (1986) Fauna dels briozous dels països catalans, vol 84, Arx Sec Ciénc. Inst d’Estud Catalans, Barcelona, pp 1–836
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Paula Desvignes for preparing the material, Arlette Armand for her help with scanning electron microscopy, Noël Podevigne for taking the macrophotographs, and Annie Dureu for logistical support during fieldwork. Yvonne Bone and Maja Novosel provided helpful reviews of an earlier version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moissette, P. (2013). Seagrass-Associated Bryozoan Communities from the Late Pliocene of the Island of Rhodes (Greece). In: Ernst, A., Schäfer, P., Scholz, J. (eds) Bryozoan Studies 2010. Lecture Notes in Earth System Sciences, vol 143. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16411-8_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16411-8_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-16410-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-16411-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)