Abstract
The coralline algal genus Clathromorphum is a dominant calcifier in the rocky Subarctic biogeographic region, stretching through the lower Arctic from the Labrador Sea to the Bering Sea. Although commonly 2â10 cm in thickness, Clathromorphum can reach a thickness of up to 50 cm while forming an annually layered structure that can reach currently documented ages of up to 850 years. Geochemical and growth information archived in annual growth bands of Clathromorphum sp. has been used to provide long time series of past environmental conditions in regions that are poorly understood major drivers of Northern Hemisphere climate. However, information on Clathromorphum calcification, growth, and ecology that would allow interpretation of these records has previously been quite limited. Here we relate extensive field and laboratory data on the biology, physiology, and ecology of species of this genus and their controlling environmental parameters. We show that Clathromorphum has evolved a unique mode of double calcification, with high-magnesium calcite crystals, that enhances long life and leads to a multielement climate archive. Growth rates are controlled by temperature, and carbonate density is controlled by light, determined by both latitude and sea ice cover, whereas carbonate buildup and ultimate thickness are determined by local geomorphology and faunal interactions. Reproduction is complexly linked to vegetative anatomy. Precise paleoenvironmental information can be retrieved from Clathromorphum because of its unique cytological and anatomical structures, described and modeled for the first time in this volume.
Highlights
Adey, Walter H., Jochen Halfar, and Branwen Williams
We show that Clathromorphum has evolved a unique mode of double calcification, with high-magnesium calcite crystals, that enhances long life and leads to a multielement climate archive
Growth rates are controlled by temperature, and carbonate density is controlled by light, determined by both latitude and sea ice cover, whereas carbonate buildup and ultimate thickness are determined by local geomorphology and faunal interactions
Summary
Walter H., Jochen Halfar, and Branwen Williams. The Coralline Genus Clathromorphum Foslie emend. Adey: Biological, Physiological, and Ecological Factors Controlling Carbonate Production in an Arctic-Subarctic Climate Archive. Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences, number 40, iv + 42 pages, 29 figures, 1 table, 2013.— The coralline algal genus Clathromorphum is a dominant calcifier in the rocky Subarctic biogeographic region, stretching through the lower Arctic from the Labrador Sea to the Bering Sea. commonly 2–10 cm in thickness, Clathromorphum can reach a thickness of up to 50 cm while forming an annually layered structure that can reach currently documented ages of up to 850 years. Cover images: (left) One thousand year-old Clathromorphum compactum mound buried in a rhodolith bed (Lithothamnion tophiforme) in northern Labrador. Reprinted with permission; (right) Boulder with 200–300 year-old crust of C. compactum from southern Labrador. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48–1992
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