Kelp forests and Coral reefs
Schema della sezione
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Kelp: origins, distribution and diversity. The three-dimensional structure of kelp forests. Distribution and factors influencing forests. Biodiversity associated with kelp. Ecological functions, associated ecosystem goods and services. Productivity and food webs in kelp forests. Human impacts and exploitation. Regime shift of kelp forests related to resource exploitation and climate change.
Soft corals and hard corals. Reef-building corals: characteristics, biology and global distribution. Symbiosis in corals. Reproduction. Skeletogenesis. madreporarians of the Mediterranean Sea. Three-dimensional structure of corals in relation to environmental drivers. Types of coral reefs. Formation of the atolls. Factors affecting the distribution of coral reefs. Biodiversity and food webs. Productivity. Ecosystem functions. Associated goods and services. Human threats. Bleaching. Acidification. Overexploitation and regime shift: the example of the Caribbean.
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