[Coral-List] ECRS 2017: Reef building and breakdown - call for abstracts

[Emma Kennedy]

Dear Coral Listers,

We would like to encourage you to submit an abstract to our
interdisciplinary session on reef building, bioerosion and structural
complexity at the European Coral Reef Symposium (ECRS) 2017:

CORAL REEF BUILDING AND BREAKDOWN: HABITAT CONSTRUCTION, EROSION AND
STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY (Session 1)

*Session description*: Many of the ecosystem services provided by coral
reefs are tightly coupled to their ability to grow or maintain complex
calcium carbonate (CaCO3) structures. Examples include the provision of
structurally complex habitats supporting biodiverse reef communities, the
protection of coastlines from wave energy and the generation of carbonate
sediments to replenish sedimentary landforms like beaches and even reef
islands. Net rates of CaCO3 framework production are determined by the
balance between biological construction (primarily calcification by corals
and coralline algae) and combined biological (parrotfish, urchins, macro-
and microborers) erosion, physical erosion and chemical dissolution. Reef
accretion and the geomorphology of reef systems are then determined by
carbonate transport pathways over time. Hence carbonate framework
production and erosion influence a range of ecosystem functions, over a
variety of spatial and temporal scales. As a result, the quantification of
habitat structural complexity and net reef framework production are both
increasingly recognised as a useful proxies for healthy reef functioning.
This session topic encompasses important aspects of reef ecology, biology
and geomorphology, an interdisciplinary area of increasing relevance as we
see flattening of reef structure and global declines in reef building
potential. We would invite anyone interested in reef-scale patterns of
growth and erosion processes to participate in this session.

Abstract submission is open until the 30th June -
http://www.reefconservationuk.co.uk/sessions.html

Session chairs: Emma Kennedy, Gary Murphy and Claire Reymond

ECRS 2017 is taking place at the University of Oxford from December 13-17
2017 and we look forward to seeing you there. See
http://www.reefconservationuk.co.uk/ecrs-2017.html for more details.



Atmospheric CO2 today: 409.25 ppm; 407.70 ppm May 2016

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Dr. Emma Kennedy **| Research Fellow | Global Change Institute*



*University of Queensland | Gerhmann Building, Level 7 Room 710St Lucia QLD
4072 | Australiatel **+61 7 3735 7942 **| email* *emma.kennedy at griffith.edu.au
<emma.kennedy at griffith.edu.au>*
*website** www.researchgate.net/profile/Emma_Kennedy
<http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emma_Kennedy>* *| **www.rivers.edu.au
<http://www.rivers.edu.au/>*