First published online December 14, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 91-96 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02627
Chemical versus mechanical bioerosion of coral reefs by boring sponges - lessons from Pione cf. vastifica
A. Zundelevich1,*,
B. Lazar2 and
M. Ilan1,
1 Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978,
Israel
2 Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
91904, Israel

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Fig. 1. Pione cf. vastifica spicules and erosion scars. (A) All three
types of spicules. The longest one is a tylostyle. (B) An acantho microxea.
(C) An acantho microrhabd. (D) Wall of sponge excavation in coral, covered
with erosion scars. (E) A few erosion scars of different shapes. Of note are
the projections in the center of some of them, where no substrate dissolution
occurred. (F) A single erosion scar with a small projection in the middle.
Signs of penetration beneath the projection are evident in its perimeter
(arrowheads). Arrow indicates the area assumed to have been chemically
removed.
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Fig. 2. Abundance of Pione cf. vastifica at different depths (mean
± s.d.). a, b and c show statistically different groups (ANOVA and LSD
a-posteriori test; P<0.001).
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Fig. 6. Pione cf. vastifica rates of chemical boring versus
mechanical boring by individual sponges (mean ± s.d.).
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007