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Know the distribution to assess the changes: Mediterranean cold-water coral bioconstructions

  • Changes and Crises in the Mediterranean Sea
  • Published:
Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cold-water corals (CWCs) are the main engineers of extensive deep coral frameworks hosting a lush diversity of species in certain areas of the world, including the Mediterranean Sea. In this basin, the most important bioconstructor species are the so-called “white corals”, i.e. the colonial scleractinians Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa as well as the solitary coral Desmophyllum dianthus. Anthropogenic impacts (e.g., fishing pressure) and human-induced changes (e.g., rising temperatures and ocean acidification) are known to affect these important deep-sea bioconstructors. The present paper provides an overview of the horizontal and vertical distribution of white corals in the Mediterranean Sea. The knowledge of the present distribution of living CWCs represents a crucial baseline to understand how anthropogenic and natural changes are affecting these deep Mediterranean habitats.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia e CoNISMa LRU, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, Italy

    Giovanni Chimienti & Francesco Mastrototaro

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Europa 26, 16132, Genova, Italy

    Marzia Bo

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  1. Giovanni Chimienti
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Correspondence to Giovanni Chimienti.

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Chimienti, G., Bo, M. & Mastrototaro, F. Know the distribution to assess the changes: Mediterranean cold-water coral bioconstructions. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 29, 583–588 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-018-0718-3

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