Max Wisshak - Böcker

Bioerosion is the major force driving the degradation of marine skeletal carbonates and limestone coasts. A wide spectrum of mechanical and/or chemical boring, scraping or crushing organisms break down calcereous substrates, comprising various grazers, macroborers and especially microborers. Their traces on and within hard substrates are known from fossil carbonates as old as the Precambrian and serve as valuable palaeoenvironmental indicators. Bioerosion processes have been extensively studied in tropical seas, while corrsponding investigations from cold-temperate to polar settings remain sparse. For the first time, an experimental study yields insight into the pace of carbonate degradation and the chronology of boring community development along a bathymetric gradient in a high-latitude setting.

A little more than forty years has past since the concept of bioerosion was formally recognised as the biological erosion of hard materials. In that time, it has become apparent from the literature that bioerosional processes affect a wide range of biological and geological systems that cross many disciplines among the sciences. This book is dedicated to crossing those traditional disciplinary boundaries to present a united and current perspective on the pattern and process of bioerosion.The book opens with papers on the evolutionary significance of bioerosion, and subsequently ventures out to explore the remarkable diversity of bioerosive biota. From microboring bacteria to grazing echinoids, the studies use a variety of techniques ranging from field observations to sophisticated micro-computed tomography to investigate the ecological and environmental role of these organisms, including symbiotic interactions and alteration of non-carbonate substrates. The book concludes with a primer on the bioerosion bibliography website.A diverse set of two dozen articles, including case studies and extensive reviews, highlight many aspects of the growing discipline of bioerosion research, from the early Palaeozoic to the present, from the Tropics to the Arctic, and from terrestrial environments to the deep-sea.

Traces of the action of mechanical and chemical boring, scraping or crushing organisms on hard substrates appear in fossil carbonates as old as the Precambrian, providing valuable palaeoenvironmental indicators. Bioerosion has been extensively studied in tropical seas, but data from cold-temperate to polar settings remain sparse. This book presents an experimental study into the pace of carbonate degradation and the chronology of boring community development along a bathymetric gradient in high-latitude settings.

A little more than forty years has past since the concept of bioerosion was formally recognised as the biological erosion of hard materials. In that time, it has become apparent from the literature that bioerosional processes affect a wide range of biological and geological systems that cross many disciplines among the sciences. This book is dedicated to crossing those traditional disciplinary boundaries to present a united and current perspective on the pattern and process of bioerosion.The book opens with papers on the evolutionary significance of bioerosion, and subsequently ventures out to explore the remarkable diversity of bioerosive biota. From microboring bacteria to grazing echinoids, the studies use a variety of techniques ranging from field observations to sophisticated micro-computed tomography to investigate the ecological and environmental role of these organisms, including symbiotic interactions and alteration of non-carbonate substrates. The book concludes with a primer on the bioerosion bibliography website.A diverse set of two dozen articles, including case studies and extensive reviews, highlight many aspects of the growing discipline of bioerosion research, from the early Palaeozoic to the present, from the Tropics to the Arctic, and from terrestrial environments to the deep-sea.