Growth of the Mediterranean Gorgonian Lophogorgia ceratophyta (L., 1758)
Authors:
- 1 December 1993
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Marine Ecology
- Vol. 14 (4) , 329-340
Abstract
Growth of the shallow‐water gorgonian Lophogorgia ceratophyta was investigated in an infralittoral station located in La Spezia Gulf, Ligurian Sea. Mean annual height growth rate was estimated to be 2.57 cm · a‐1. The fractal dimension of the colonies was found to gradually evolve in complexity, exhibiting a simpler branching pattern in younger specimens. The maintenance of a low, invariable ramification complexity as an optimal choice in managing relationships between water and the colony's living tissues is also discussed.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- Verification of fractal growth models of the sponge Haliclona oculata (Porifera) with transplantation experimentsMarine Biology, 1992
- Modelling growth forms of the spongeHaliclona oculata (Porifera, Demospongiae) using fractal techniquesMarine Biology, 1991
- The Allometry of Growth and Reproduction1989
- THE ECOLOGY OF INDETERMINATE GROWTH IN ANIMALSAnnual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1987
- Fractal dimension of vegetation and the distribution of arthropod body lengthsNature, 1985
- Ecological observations on the gorgonian sea fan Eunicella cavolinii'in the Bay of NaplesMarine Ecology Progress Series, 1985
- Growth and recruitment of the tellinid bivalve Macoma balthica at the southern limit of its geographical distribution, the Gironde estuary (SW France)Marine Biology, 1980
- Growth Rings: Annual Periodicity in Two Gorgonian CoralsEcology, 1974
- ORIENTATION AND GROWTH FORM OF SEA FANSLimnology and Oceanography, 1972
- Influenza dei fattori ambicntali sulla facies a Gorgounacei di Punta Mesco (Rivicra di Levante)Bolletino di zoologia, 1965