Definition
Coral reef: A tract of corals growing on a massive, wave-resistant structure and associated sediments, substantially built by skeletons of successive generations of corals and other calcareous reef-biota.
Coral-algal reef: A rigid wave-resistant structure in which scleractinian (stony) corals and crustose coralline algae are the dominant frame-builders. The term “modern” is used to refer to reefs that are forming or have formed in response to late Holocene sea levels (less than 7000 years B.P.) (James and Macintyre 1985).
Introduction
Drawing a parallel with a definition of the coral reef’s nearest terrestrial equivalent “forest” as “large tract covered with trees and undergrowth” (Fowler, 1929), “coral reef” could simply be defined as “large tract covered with corals and undergrowth.” However, these words fall well short of capturing a coral reef’s total character on two major fronts (Stoddart, 1969): first, the notion that the organisms of the reef themselves do not...
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Done, T. (2011). Coral Reef, Definition. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_63
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