Bioerosion describes the erosion of hard ocean substrates by living organisms by a number of mechanisms. Bioerosion can be caused by mollusks, polychaete worms, sponges, crustaceans, echinoids, and fish. It can occur on coastlines, on coral reefs, and on ships. Mechanisms of bioerosion include biotic boring, drilling, rasping, and scraping. Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. For erosion as understood by materials science, see Erosion (materials science) For erosion as an English analogy, see Erosion (figurative) For erosion as an operation of Mathematical morphology, see Erosion (morphology) Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil... Stream substrate (sediment) is the material that rests at the bottom of a stream. ... Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora Monoplacophora Bivalvia Scaphopoda Gastropoda Cephalopoda † Rostroconchia The mollusks or molluscs are the large and diverse phylum Mollusca, which includes a variety of familiar creatures well-known for their decorative shells or as seafood. ... Subclasses Palpata Scoleoida Tomopteris from plankton The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. ... Classes Calcarea Hexactinellida Demospongiae The sponges or poriferans (from Latin porus pore and ferre to bear) are animals of the phylum Porifera. ... Classes Remipedia Cephalocarida Branchiopoda Ostracoda Maxillopoda Malacostraca The crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods (55,000 species), usually treated as a subphylum. ... Classes  ?Helicoplacoidea †  ?Arkarua †  ?Homalozoa † Eleutherozoa Asteroidea Concentricycloidea Echinoidea Holothuroidea Ophiuroidea Pelmatozoa Crinoidea Edrioasteroidea† Blastoidea † Cystoidea † Eocrinoidea † † = extinct Echinoderms . ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ... A reef surrounding an islet. ... Italian Full rigged ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large watercraft capable of deep water navigation. ... Look up boring in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An electric drill A drill is a tool with a rotary drill bit used to bore holes through material. ...

Bioerosion of coral reefs generates the fine and white coral sand characteristic of tropical islands. The coral is converted to sand by internal bioeroders such as algae, fungi, bacteria (microborers) and sponges (Clionidae), bivalves (Lithophaga), sipunculans (Aspidosiphon), polychaetes (Eunicidae), generating extremely fine sediment of 10 to 100 micrometres. External bioeroders include urchins (Diadema) and chitons (Acanthopleura). These forces in concern result in a great deal of erosion. Sea urchin erosion of CaCO3 has been reported in some reefs at annual rates exceeding 20 kg/m². Coral sand Coral sand is sand of particles originating in tropical and sub-tropical marine environments from bioerosion of limestone skeletal material of marine organisms. ... A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... Divisions Chytridiomycota Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota The Fungi (singular: fungus) are a large group of organisms ranked as a kingdom within the Domain Eukaryota. ... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ... Classes Calcarea Hexactinellida Demospongiae The sponges or poriferans (from Latin porus pore and ferre to bear) are animals of the phylum Porifera. ... Genera Clione Clionina Fowlerina Paedoclione Paraclione Thalassopterus The sea angels of the family Clionidae (Rafinesque, 1815) are gelatinous, mostly transparent pteropods. ... Orders Subclass Protobranchia Solemyoida Nuculoida Subclass Pteriomorphia - oysters Arcoida Mytiloida Pterioida Subclass Paleoheterodonta - mussels Trigoinoida Unionoida Subclass Heterodonta - clams, zebra mussels Veneroida Myoida Subclass Anomalosdesmata Pholadomyoida Animals of the Class Bivalvia are known as bivalves because they typically have two-part shells, with both parts being more or less symmetrical. ... Species See text. ... Classes, Orders and Families Class Sipunculidea Order Sipunculiformes Family Sipunculidae Order Golfingiiformes Family Golfingiidae Family Phascolionidae Family Themistidae Class Phascolosomatidea Order Phascolosomatiformes Family Phascolosomatidae Order Aspidosiphoniformes Family Aspidosiphonidae The Sipuncula, sipunculid worms or peanut worms, are a phylum containing 144-320 species (estimates vary) of bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented marine worms. ... Genera Eunice Euniphysa Lysidice Marphysa Nematonereis Palola Paramarphysa Eunicidae is a family of worms. ... Urchin is the old English term for hedgehog. ... Species Diadema palmeri Diadema savignyi Diadema setosum Diadema antillarum Diadema paucispinum Diadema mexicanum Diadema ascensionis Diadema is a genus of sea urchins and is one of the most abundant, widespread, and ecologically important shallow water genera of tropical sea urchins. ... Families See text. ... Subclasses Euechinoidea Superorder Atelostomata Order Cassiduloida Order Spatangoida (heart urchins) Superorder Diadematacea Order Diadematoida Order Echinothurioida Order Pedinoida Superorder Echinacea Order Arbacioida Order Echinoida Order Phymosomatoida Order Salenioida Order Temnopleuroida Superorder Gnathostomata Order Clypeasteroida (sand dollars) Order Holectypoida Perischoechinoidea Order Cidaroida (pencil urchins) Sea urchins are small spiny sea creatures...

Fish also erode coral while eating algae. Parrotfish cause a great deal of bioerosion, due to their well developed jaw muscle and tooth armature, and a pharyngeal mill, which grinds up ingested material into sand-sized particles. Bioerosion of reef calcium carbonate by parrotfish can range from 1017.7±186.3 kg yr-¹ (0.41±0.07 m³ yr-¹) for Chlorurus gibbus and 23.6±3.4 kg yr-¹ (9.7 10-³±1.3 10-³ m²yr-¹) for Chlorurus sordidus (Bellwood, 1995). A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... Genera Bolbometopon Calotomus Cetoscarus Chlorurus Cryptotomus Hipposcarus Leptoscarus Nicholsina Scarus Sparisoma Parrotfishes are mostly tropical, perciform marine fish of the family Scaridae. ... Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound, with chemical formula CaCO3. ...

Bioerosion is also well known in the fossil record (Bromley, 1970), with traces of this activity stretching back well into the Precambrian (Taylor & Wilson, 2003). Macrobioerosion, which produces borings visible to the naked eye, shows two distinct evolutionary radiations. One was in the Middle Ordovician (the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution; see Wilson & Palmer, 2006) and the other in the Jurassic (see Taylor & Wilson, 2003; Bromley, 2004; Wilson, 2007). Microbioerosion also has a long fossil record and its own radiations (see Glaub & Vogel, 2004; Glaub et al., 2007). The Ordovician period is the second of the six (seven in North America) periods of the Paleozoic era. ...

See also

• Geomorphology

• Biogeomorphology
• Coastal erosion

• Ocean

Surface of the Earth Geomorphology is the study of landforms, including their origin and evolution, and the processes that shape them. ... Biogeomorphology and ecogeomorphology are the study of interactions between organisms and the development of landforms, and is thus a field of geomorphology. ... Coastal erosion is a process which affects the landmass of an area as a consequence of the sea acting upon it. ... Animated map exhibiting the worlds oceanic waters. ...

References

Belwood, D. R. 1995. Direct estimate of bioerosion by two parrotfish species, Chlorurus gibbus and C. sordidus, on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Biology 121:419-429. [1]

Bromley, R.G., 1970. Borings as trace fossils and Entobia cretacea Portlock as an example, p. 49-90. In: Crimes, T.P. and Harper, J.C. (eds.), Trace Fossils. Geological Journal Special Issue 3.

Bromley, R.G., 2004. A stratigraphy of marine bioerosion. In: The application of ichnology to palaeoenvironmental and stratigraphic analysis. (Ed. D. McIlroy), Geological Society of London Special Publications 228:455-481.

Glaub, I., Golubic, S., Gektidis, M., Radtke, G. and Vogel, K., 2007. Microborings and microbial endoliths: geological implications. In: Miller III, W (ed) Trace fossils: concepts, problems, prospects. Elsevier, Amsterdam: pp. 368-381.

Glaub, I. and Vogel, K., 2004. The stratigraphic record of microborings. Fossils & Strata 51:126-135.

Palmer, T.J., 1982. Cambrian to Cretaceous changes in hardground communities. Lethaia 15:309-323.

Taylor, P.D. and Wilson, M.A. 2003. Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities. Earth-Science Reviews 62: 1-103. [2]

Wilson, M.A. (2007). Macroborings and the evolution of bioerosion, p. 356-367. In: Miller, W. III (ed.), Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 611 pages.

Wilson, M.A. and Palmer, T.J. 2006. Patterns and processes in the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution. Ichnos 13: 109-112. [3]

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Bioerosion Website at The College of Wooster [4] The College of Wooster is a residential liberal arts college primarily known for its Independent Study program. ...

Comprehensive bioerosion bibliography compiled by Mark A. Wilson [5]