3.3. TWO-DIMENSIONAL MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF RANGES OF GROWTH FORMS
8S
3·00
E
u
~2.00
.S
u
~ 1·50
...1
-'"
1.00
0·50
(a)
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
depth (m)
(b)
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 \I
classes
Fig. j.iea-c. Millepora alcicornis (a),
Pocillopora damicornis (b), Haliclonaoculata (c). Plots of br_spacing against
depth, "exposure to water movement"
classes of Veron and Pichon (1976), and
erosion rate of gypsum blocks (g h-I).
Mean values are indicated with an asterisk and the standard deviation with
a dashed line. Values of the regression
coefficient rcare listedin Table 3.2.
0 .05 0 .10 0.15 0.20 0 .25 0.30
(c)
erosion value (gh-I)
for the growth forms of all three species, that the plane-filling properties
of the contour outlines decrease with increasing exposure to water movement. The D box values thus express an overall increase in compactness of
the contour line. Although the three species are taxonomically very different, the impact of water movement on the growth process showed a similar
trend. Although for Millepora alcicornis and Pocillopora damicornis local
light intensities are another major environmental influence, the amount of
water movement seems to be the dominant parameter causing morphological
plasticity.
In all three species the branching angle b_angle (see Table 3.2; Figs. 3.13,
3.14) was invariant to the change in exposure to water movement in the
growth forms . In all three species b_angle fluctuated around the value of approximately 1.50 rad, which seems to indicate that this parameter is not a very
species-specific property either. In both Millepora alcicornis and Pocillopora
damicornis, rb increased with the amount of water movement; this observation contradicts measurements on Haliclona oculata and on simulated
growth forms of H. oculata (Kaandorp 1995). There is no possible explanation for this observation, except that the formation of branches may follow
a different pattern in M. alcicornis and P. damicornis than in H. oculata. In all
three species negative substrate tropism was detected. The value of g_angle
8S
3·00
E
u
~2.00
.S
u
~ 1·50
...1
-'"
1.00
0·50
(a)
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
depth (m)
(b)
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 \I
classes
Fig. j.iea-c. Millepora alcicornis (a),
Pocillopora damicornis (b), Haliclonaoculata (c). Plots of br_spacing against
depth, "exposure to water movement"
classes of Veron and Pichon (1976), and
erosion rate of gypsum blocks (g h-I).
Mean values are indicated with an asterisk and the standard deviation with
a dashed line. Values of the regression
coefficient rcare listedin Table 3.2.
0 .05 0 .10 0.15 0.20 0 .25 0.30
(c)
erosion value (gh-I)
for the growth forms of all three species, that the plane-filling properties
of the contour outlines decrease with increasing exposure to water movement. The D box values thus express an overall increase in compactness of
the contour line. Although the three species are taxonomically very different, the impact of water movement on the growth process showed a similar
trend. Although for Millepora alcicornis and Pocillopora damicornis local
light intensities are another major environmental influence, the amount of
water movement seems to be the dominant parameter causing morphological
plasticity.
In all three species the branching angle b_angle (see Table 3.2; Figs. 3.13,
3.14) was invariant to the change in exposure to water movement in the
growth forms . In all three species b_angle fluctuated around the value of approximately 1.50 rad, which seems to indicate that this parameter is not a very
species-specific property either. In both Millepora alcicornis and Pocillopora
damicornis, rb increased with the amount of water movement; this observation contradicts measurements on Haliclona oculata and on simulated
growth forms of H. oculata (Kaandorp 1995). There is no possible explanation for this observation, except that the formation of branches may follow
a different pattern in M. alcicornis and P. damicornis than in H. oculata. In all
three species negative substrate tropism was detected. The value of g_angle