Integrating Short- and Long-Term Bioerosion Processes (Greece)

• Antragsteller: Dr. Max Wisshak
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Paläontologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2012 bis 2016
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 222667726

Biologically driven corrosion and abrasion of hard substrates, subsumed under the term „bioerosion“, is a key process during the (re)cycling of carbonate and the formation of calcareous sediments. Quantitative and qualitative assessments of bioerosion are particularly relevant for carbonate budget calculations and palaeoenviremental evaluations, respectively. Previous bioerosion experiments were largely limited to two years of exposure, thereby mainly recording microbial microbioerosion (cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, fungi). However, the succession of macroboring communities (sponges, molluscs, polychaetes), takes year to reach equilibrium. Centrepiece of the proposed project is thus the integration of micro- and macrobioerosion processes on the one hand, as well as short- and long-term bioerosion rates on the other. This will be based on the analysis of material provided by two previous experiments that were carried out in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, specifically a ½ to 1-year carbonate cycling experimente in 15 to 250 m water depth off the southern Peloponnese, and a 1 to 14-year deployment of marble books in 3 to 17 m water depth around the island of Rhodes. An add-on experiment is proposed for the intertidal and supratidal zones at the same sites. The anticipated results will foster our knowledge of the temporal variability of bioerosion communities as well as bioerosion rates and will be interpreted in respect to bathymetrical, latitudinal, and longitudinal gradients.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen