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Marine Animal Forests pp 919–944Cite as

Trophic Ecology and Habitat Provision in Cold-Water Coral Ecosystems

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Abstract

Cold-water coral ecosystems differ from each other greatly in structure, faunal makeup, and ecological function. Attributes such as substrate type, 3-D complexity, biological community, and nutrient supply also change over small temporal and spatial scales. In this chapter, we present an overview of food gathering strategies employed by a range of cold-water corals. Furthermore, the importance of corals as habitat providers for associated fauna and thus biodiversity is discussed. The coral habitats support ecosystems at various spatial scales ranging from local exposed skeleton patches on gorgonian branches to the various zones on a reef. Comparison is made between many types of animal forests made up by cold-water corals, including several types of coral gardens and coastal and offshore reefs from a wide range of environmental settings. The trophic ecology of reef types is compared, and the variation in feeding behavior across particular reefs is also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Research, Nordnesgaten 50, 5005, Bergen, Norway

    Pål Buhl-Mortensen & Lene Buhl-Mortensen

  2. Alfred Wegener Institute, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Autun Purser

Authors
  1. Pål Buhl-Mortensen
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  2. Lene Buhl-Mortensen
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  3. Autun Purser
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pål Buhl-Mortensen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Sergio Rossi

  2. Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques (LECOB) Observatoire Océanologique, Banyuls/Mer, France

    Lorenzo Bramanti

  3. Departament d’Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Andrea Gori

  4. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Palma, Mallorca, Spain

    Covadonga Orejas

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Buhl-Mortensen, P., Buhl-Mortensen, L., Purser, A. (2017). Trophic Ecology and Habitat Provision in Cold-Water Coral Ecosystems. In: Rossi, S., Bramanti, L., Gori, A., Orejas , C. (eds) Marine Animal Forests. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21012-4_20

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