The functional roles of marine sponges

Despite the wide range of functional roles performed by marine sponges they are still poorly represented in many research, monitoring and conservation programmes. The aim of this review is to examine recent developments in our understanding of sponge functional roles in tropical, temperate and polar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Estuarine, coastal and shelf science Vol. 79; no. 3; pp. 341 - 353
Main Author: Bell, James J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Elsevier Ltd 10.09.2008
Elsevier
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
bentho-pelagic coupling
bioerosion
Biological and medical sciences
Brackish water ecosystems
functional role
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
Sea water ecosystems
sponge
sponge associations
sponge monitoring
Synecology
sponge
bentho-pelagic coupling
functional role
sponge associations
sponge monitoring
bioerosion
Brackish water environment
Biological agent
Pelagic zone
Marine environment
Porifera
Benthos
Coupling
Invertebrata
Erosion
ISSN:0272-7714, 1096-0015
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Despite the wide range of functional roles performed by marine sponges they are still poorly represented in many research, monitoring and conservation programmes. The aim of this review is to examine recent developments in our understanding of sponge functional roles in tropical, temperate and polar ecosystems. Functions have been categorised into three areas: (a) impacts on substrate (including bioerosion, reef creation, and substrate stabilisation, consolidation and regeneration); (b) bentho-pelagic coupling (including carbon cycling, silicon cycling, oxygen depletion and nitrogen cycling); and (c) associations with other organisms (facilitating primary production, secondary production, provision of microhabitat, enhanced predation protection, survival success, range expansions and camouflage though association with sponges, sponges as a settlement substrate, disrupting near-boundary and reef level flow regimes, sponges as agents of biological disturbance, sponges as releasers of chemicals and sponges as tools for other organisms). The importance of sponges on substrate, sponge bentho-pelagic coupling, and sponge interactions and associations is described. Although the scientific evidence strongly supports the significance and widespread nature of these functional roles sponges still remain underappreciated in marine systems.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0272-7714
1096-0015
DOI:10.1016/j.ecss.2008.05.002