Carbonate standing stock and carbonate production of the bryozoanPentapora fascialis in the North-Western Mediterranean. Authors; Authors and affiliations.
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Erlangen 2001
Carbonate Standing Stock and Carbonate Production of the Bryozoan Pentapora fascia~is in the North-Western Mediterranean Silvia Cocito and Francesca Ferdeghini, La Spezia
KEYWORDS: BRYOZOA - PEN7)II'OI?.~ F..L';('MLI.~; - ('..\RB()N,VfE S I.-\NI)IN(; S f()('K MEDITFRRANEAN P-,I{('I-NT Summary Pentaporafascialis, one of the lar.gest 1iving blyozo.:ul. is often a predonlinant part of the benthos on hard subtidal bottoms in the Meditenanean Sea. Convelsion factors calculated flom laboratory nleasurcinents of col(my size. biomass and skeleton weight, combined with density of coloMes and mean annual growth rate allowed the estimation of carbonate standing stock, biomass and ,_'arl-,onate production of Penlapora J&s'ciali:; in five ',iter, in ihe Ligurian Sea. Carbonate standing stoc'k ranged JlOlll 281 to 2490 g.m-2, colony biomass varied l:rom 8.82 to 78,01 g.rn -2, with a ratio biomass io carllonalc standhlg stock of about 3 %. Carbonate production of the hryozoail ranged in the five sites from 358 to 1214 g.rn 2.5 I. If compared with the few data available on carbonate prod u e l l o s of hryozoans and other sublittoral benthic bioconstructors in tile temperate regions. Pcnml)r)ra ,htscialis has to be considered one of the m@~r coniribut(us to the carbonatebudget.
1 Introduction Little is known on extension of carbonaie frameworks and build-ups and on hnportance of c4u-bonzite produclitm
C,\I),B()NAFI:. Pl4ODU('TI()N
NW-
of mm-tr(,fficaI specie>, that in past and recent times participutecl m CO, fixation (Henrich c t a l . 1995). In temperate \x.
:_ll.Cl'S, 111:411\ II1Lll'i11C
ph.mts ~encrusting corallincs) and ani-
Ill[IIs (t3rb'o/o;.uls. serpulids. ~.lllthozo~.lfls,,bivalvcs, vermetids. Sl~tm.~e,,). ~i\ino rise to layers and masses \vitl+ttheir culcareou>, skeleton, build biogcnic construction>, \vlfich may, grow for,.'cnturicn and reach important size ( Lab~wel 1987). Among these OI'~;.tlliSIll'~, I'!IOSl I'HyozoLUlS deposh CaCO~ extracellu]at1\ t.lp to 85 ',~ ofthe ex(~skeleton in a m a t u r e / o o i d , i.e. the nlodular Iunctional unil of cdonies. Bryozoans can Iori11 a bro;_id climensi()nal rungc of ri,
