What do we know about Mediterranean Cold (Deep)-Water coral ecosystems? In this book, specialists offer answers and insights with a series of chapters and short papers about the paleoecology, biology, physiology and ecology of the corals and other organisms that comprise these ecosystems. Structured on a temporal axisPast, Present and Futurethe reviews and selected study cases cover the cold and deep coral habitats known to date in the Mediterranean Basin. This book illustrates and explains the deep Mediterranean coral habitats that might have originated similar thriving ecosystems in today's Atlantic Ocean.

First volume specifically dedicated to the Mediterranean Cold-water coral ecosystems Contains full and comprehensive chapters on specific topics, discoveries, case studies appealing to students and teachers Brings together Mediterranean specialists in CWCs and scientists from other regions

Inhalt

1. An introduction to the research on Mediterranean cold-water corals.- PART I Past.- 2. Paleoecology of Mediterranean cold-water corals.- 3. Drop chapter. Cold water corals in the Mediterranean: a history of discovery.- 4. A turbulent story: Mediterranean contourites and cold-water corals.- 5. Drop chapter. Messinian salinity crisis: what happened to cold-water corals?.- 6. Drop chapter. Did Quaternary climate fluctuations affect Mediterranean deep-sea coral communities?.- 7. Drop chapter. A deglacial cold-water coral boom in the Alborán Sea: from coral mounds and species dominance.- 8. Drop chapter. Highly variable submarine landscapes in the Alborán Sea created by cold-water corals.- 9. Spatio-temporal distribution of Mediterranean cold-water corals.- 10. Drop chapter. Bathyal corals within the Aegean Sea and the adjacent Hellenic trench.- 11. Mediterranean cold-water corals as paleoclimate archives.- 12. Drop chapter: Tomography of cold-water corals - bearing cores.- 13. Drop chapter. Changing views about Mediterranean cold-water corals.- PART II Present.- 14. Taxonomy, genetics and biodiversity of Mediterranean deep-sea corals and cold-water corals.- 15. Habitat mapping of cold-water corals in the Mediterranean Sea.- 16. Cold-water coral habitat mapping in the Mediterranean Sea: methodologies and perspectives.- 17. Drop chapter. Working with visual methods, comparison among the French deep-sea canyons.- 18. Review of the circulation and characteristics of intermediate water masses of the Mediterranean--implications for cold-water coral habitats.- 19. Occurrence and biogeography of Mediterranean cold-water corals.- 20. Drop chapter. Gorgonian and black coral assemblages in deep coastal bottoms and continental shelves of the Mediterranean Sea.- 21. Drop chapter. Mediterranean black coral communities.- 22. Drop chapter. Recent discoveries of extensive cold-water coral assemblages in Maltese waters.- 23. Drop chapter. Corals of Aphrodite: Dendrophyllia ramea populations of Cyprus.- 24. Drop chapter. Cold-water corals in fluid venting submarine structures.- 25. Drop chapter. Cold-water corals and mud volcanoes life on a dynamic substrate.- 26. Occurrence of living cold-water corals at large depths within submarine canyons of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea.- 27. Drop chapter. Submarine canyons in the Mediterranean: a shelter for cold-water corals.- 28. Drop chapter. A cold-water coral habitat in La Fonera submarine canyon, northwestern Mediterranean Sea.- 29. Cold-water coral associated fauna in the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent areas.- 30. Cold-water corals as shelter, feeding and life-history critical habitats for fish species: ecological interactions and fishing impact.- 31. Past, present and future connectivity of Mediterranean cold-water corals: patterns, drivers and fate ina technically and environmentally changing world.- 32. Drop chapter. Desmophyllum dianthus genetics and more.- 33. Diversity of bacteria associated with the cold-water corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata.- 34. Drop chapter. Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata: An Archaea riddle?.- 35. Biology and ecophysiology of Mediterranean cold-water corals.- 36. Growth patterns of Mediterranean calcifying cold-water corals.- 37. Demography and conservation of deep corals: the study of population structure and dynamics.- 38. Cold-water coral in aquaria: advances and challenges. A focus on the Mediterranean.- 39. Drop chapter. Approaching cold-water corals to the society: novel ways to transfer knowledge.- PART III Future.- 40. Perspectives of biophysical modelling with implications on biological connectivity of Mediterranean cold-water corals.- 41. Drop chapter. The interface between tectonic evolution and cold-water coral dynamics in the Mediterranean.- 42. Drop chapter. The Mediterranean is getting saltier: from the past to the future.- 43. Drop chapter. The spread of non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean a threat to cold-water corals?.- 44. Fate of Mediterranean scleractinian cold-water corals as a result of global climate change. A synthesis. - 45. Drop chapter. A case study: variability in the calcification response of Mediterranean cold-water corals to ocean acidification.- 46. Conservation of cold-water corals in the Mediterranean: current status and future prospects for improvement. <p