Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

3d Photogrammetry Quantifies Growth And External Erosion Of Individual Coral Colonies And Skeletons, Renata Ferrari, Will F. Figueira, Morgan S. Pratchett, Tatiana Boube, Arne Adam, Tania Kobelkowsky-Vidrio, Steve S. Doo, Trisha Brooke Atwood, Maria Byrne

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Growth and contraction of ecosystem engineers, such as trees, influence ecosystem structure and function. On coral reefs, methods to measure small changes in the structure of microhabitats, driven by growth of coral colonies and contraction of skeletons, are extremely limited. We used 3D reconstructions to quantify changes in the external structure of coral colonies of tabular Acropora spp., the dominant habitat-forming corals in shallow exposed reefs across the Pacific. The volume and surface area of live colonies increased by 21% and 22%, respectively, in 12 months, corresponding to a mean annual linear extension of 5.62 cm yr⁻¹ (±1.81 SE). …