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. 2022 Sep 7;55(2):1-12.
doi: 10.18261/let.55.2.3.

Millepora in Pleistocene coral reefs of Egypt

[Article in German]
Angelina Ivkić  1 , Andreas Kroh  2 , Abbas Mansour  3 , Mohamed Osman  3 , Mohamed Hassan  3 , Martin Zuschin  1
Affiliations

Millepora in Pleistocene coral reefs of Egypt

[Article in German]
Angelina Ivkić et al. Lethaia. .

Abstract

Millepora, a hydrozoan coral, is a common component in modern tropical reefs throughout the world. In ecological and palaeoecological surveys, it is often grouped with scleractinian corals, which are the prevailing builders of coral reefs. On modern, current-exposed reefs in the Red Sea, Millepora can become the dominant coral. However, it is rarely found in fossil reefs and if present, its abundance is usually considerably lower than in modern reefs. The mismatch is often explained by a low preservation potential of the milleporid skeleton in the fossil record. We explore Millepora abundances in Pleistocene reefs of Egypt using 29 line transects (typically of 20 m length), and find its abundances to be comparable to that of adjacent modern reefs (between 0 and 18.8 ± 8.5% per site). Comparisons between sites with and without Millepora suggest that site specific environmental characteristics determine the presence of Millepora in the fossil reef. We conclude that a lack of preservation of habitats preferred by Millepora instead of the preservation potential of the hydrozoan itself is the most plausible reason for the mismatch between modern and fossil abundances.

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Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Millepora dichotoma from a modern Egyptian reef. Photo: Angelina Ivkić.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Studied fossil transect localities along the Egyptian Red Sea coast. 1 = Flamenco Beach, 2 = Sharm El Bahari, 3 = Sharm El Quibli, 4 = Wadi Nakari, 5 = Wadi Igla, 6 = Sharm El Luli.
Fig 3
Fig 3
Average percent abundances of the ten most abundant categories grouped by Millepora presence and their 95% confidence intervals.
Fig 4
Fig 4
NMDS analysis of all fossil transects using square root transformed abundance data with Millepora abundances excluded a priori. Hulls indicate localities: 1 = Flamenco Beach; 2 = Sharm El Bahari; 3 = Sharm El Quibli; 4 = Wadi Nakari; 5 = Wadi Igla; and 6 = Sharm El Luli. Stress is 0.17. A indicates Millepora absence and presence. B additionally indicates localities, ages and reef edge and reef slope for MIS5e reefs.
Fig 5
Fig 5
Millepora examples in the fossil terraces of Egypt. A, B, fossil platy Millepora sp. from Wadi Igla and Wadi Nakari; C, cross-cut through fossil fan shaped Millepora sp. from Wadi Nakari; D, fossil Millepora sp. from Flamenco Beach; E–F, close-ups of fossil Millepora sp. from Flamenco Beach and Sharm El Bahari. Coin for scale has a diameter of 18.75 mm (C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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