Lorenzo Bramanti

French National Centre for Scientific Research | CNRS · LECOB (UMR8222) - Observatoire Océanologique Banyuls sur mer

Abstract Using empirical analyses of the effects of global climate change (GCC) and ocean acidification (OA) on the survival and calcification of early life stages of Pocillopora damicornis, we employed a demographic approach to forecast the consequences of GCC and OA on the population dynamics of this coral. We constructed a size-based demographic...

Theory suggests that density-associated processes can modulate community resilience following declines in population size. Here, we demonstrate densityassociated processes in two scleractinian populations on the outer reef of Moorea, French Polynesia, that are rapidly increasing in size following the effects of two catastrophic disturbances. Betwee...

The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is one of the most precious corals worldwide. Below 50 m depth, C. rubrum populations are generally characterised by large and sparse colonies, whereas shallow populations (above 50 m depth) show high densities of small colonies. We show here instead that populations dwelling between 80 and 170 m depth...

Density dependence (DD) controls community recovery following widespread mortality, yet this principle rarely has been applied to coral assemblages. The reefs of Mo'orea, French Polynesia, provide the opportunity to study DD of coral population growth, because coral assemblages in this location responded to declines in abundance with high recruitme...

Octocorals have increased in abundance on many Caribbean coral reefs, and at some sites "octocoral forest" may be a better community descriptor than "coral reef." Implicit to the concept of a forest is that structural elements, trees, colonies, etc., alter the environment in ways that affect the structural elements themselves and the organisms that...

Crustose coralline algae (CCAs) are key components and primary builders of coralligenous reefs, which are among the most biodiverse marine habitats in the Mediterranean Sea. Beyond their structural role, CCAs play a crucial role in promoting larval settlement in a variety of invertebrate species, including corals. In addition, CCAs form complex hol...

ICES Scientific Reports

The Canary Islands and their adjacent seamounts represent a unique biodiversity "crossroad" within Atlantic and Mediterranean. The geographical separation of ca. 1000 km between the Western and Eastern volcanic islands and seamounts, generates a high variability of biodiversity scenarios, which are currently under threat due to the overexploitation...

Black corals are important components of mesophotic and deep-water marine habitats. Their presence at great depths (e.g., 50 to 200 m) makes accessibility difficult, limiting our understanding of the associated biodiversity. Amphipods dominate vagile epifauna in marine habitats around the world, fulfilling important ecosystem functions. However, th...

As the major form of coral reef regime shift, stony coral to macroalgal transitions have received considerable attention. In the Caribbean, however, regime shifts in which scleractinian corals are replaced by octocoral assemblages hold potential for maintaining reef associated communities. Accordingly, forecasting the resilience of octocoral assemb...

The swift decline of coral reefs stands out as a significant biodiversity challenge confronting our generation, and mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; reefs between 30 and 150 m) have been proposed as refuge habitats that may be less affected by climate change and human impacts compared to their shallow counterparts. However, MCEs are often distinc...

Climate change poses a significant threat to coastal areas, marked by the increasing intensity and frequency of marine heat waves observed in various ecosystems around the world. Over the last 25 years, a vast number of Mediterranean populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata have been impacted by marine heatwaves. The last mass mortality...

The recruitment process is a fundamental step in population life cycles that determines survival, population demographic structure, and dynamics. The success of recruitment events repeated over successive years greatly affects the survival of long-lived gorgonian populations. Here, we report the recruitment process of the precious, heavily harveste...

The degradation of shallow ecosystems has called for efforts to understand the biodiversity and functioning of Mesophotic Ecosystems. However, most empirical studies have been restricted to tropical regions and have majorly focused on taxonomic entities (i.e., species), neglecting important dimensions of biodiversity that influence community assemb...

The black coral Anthipatella wollastoni forms marine animal forests in the mesophotic zone. The spatial extent of black coral forests is not well known in many regions. Due to its protein and chitin skeleton, the coral is difficult to image using acoustic remote sensing techniques compared to corals with carbonate skeletons. Several manufacturers h...

Seascape mapping is critical to understanding ecosystem services and managing areas with potential for fishing, power generation, mining, and tourism. Despite advances in marine geophysics, the necessary equipment to make underwater cartography can be expensive and requires a certain degree of specialization. In areas with scarce data, ethnomapping...

In the early 1860s, Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Natural Sciences, then a professor of zoology at the University of Lille and later at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, was entrusted with a mission by the French government to study the Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum; Cnidaria; Anthozoa; Octocorallia). L...

Corals are ecosystem engineers whose tree-like structures give three-dimensional complexity to the habitat. Their population dynamics are affected by recruitment and juvenile survival. Therefore, several defense strategies, such as the formation of hard skeletons and/or spicules, have evolved to protect these vulnerable stages. The family Coralliid...

The Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) is a long-lived and slow-growing gorgonian, which suffered intense exploitation due to its precious calcium carbonate skeleton used in jewelry and traded worldwide [1].

Antipatharians (black corals) are major components of mesophotic ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea. The arborescent species Antipathella subpinnata has received particular attention as it is the most abundant and forms dense forests harbouring high levels of biodiversity. This species is currently categorized as "Near Threatened" in the IUCN Red...

Release from herbivory is a factor underpinning coral replacement by macroalgae. Once macroalgae have achieved dominance, shifts back to the coral-dominated state can be hindered by stabilizing feedbacks. Thus, restoring herbivore assemblages alone can be insufficient to trigger coral recovery. However, herbivores could control macroalgal recovery...

The colony formation in Mediterranean coral Corallium rubrum is initiated by a larva that metamorphoses into the first polyp of the emerging colony approximately two weeks after settlement. The primary polyp then sets up a slow process that eventually, at least after several years, gives rise to a tree-like rigid colony structure on which other pol...

Artificial reefs (ARs) have been used to support fishing activities. Sessile invertebrates are essential components of trophic networks within ARs, supporting fish productivity. However, colonization by sessile invertebrates is possible only after effective larval dispersal from source populations, usually in natural habitat. While most studies foc...

Simple Summary Octocorals are marine ecosystem engineers that can form dense patches on rocky substrates. These organisms enhance the three-dimensional complexity of the habitat and provide several ecological services within and around their canopy. Mapping their distribution and understanding the intra- and inter-specific processes that drive popu...

Projecting the combined effect of management options and the evolving climate is necessary to inform shared sustainable futures for marine activities and biodiversity. However, engaging multi-sectoral stakeholders in biodiversity-use scenarios analysis remains a challenge. Using a marine social-ecological case study, we coupled co-designed visionin...

The survival, behavior and competence period of lecithotrophic larvae depends not only on the energy allocation transferred by maternal colonies but also on the amount of energy consumed to sustain embryonic, larval, and post-larval development. The objective of the present work is to understand the effect of energy consumption on the performance o...

A bstract Artificial reefs (ARs) have been used to support fishing activities. Sessile invertebrates are essential components of trophic networks within ARs, supporting fish productivity. However, colonization by sessile invertebrates is possible only after effective larval dispersal from source populations, usually in natural habitat. While most s...

Seafloor macrolitter is ubiquitous in world's oceans; still, huge knowledge gaps exist on its interactions with benthic biota. We report here the colonization of plastic substrates by the Mediterranean red coral Corallium rubrum (L. 1758), occurring both in controlled conditions and in the wild at ca. 85 m depth in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Ju...

The phenomenon of chimerism in the Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) is reported and quantified in semi-natural conditions. 1688 larvae were maintained in closed circuit in presence of a suitable settlement surface (marble tiles). Post settlement survival and chimera formation were monitored for 1 year. According to our observation, when p...

The science of demography was developed for the study of human populations , but the theoretical framework and analytical techniques can be easily applied to animal populations, giving powerful instruments for conservation and management. Demography is then a paradigmatic example of the advantages of interdisciplinary approaches which allow transfe...

Cnidarians are known to undergo reverse development as a survival mechanism against adverse environmental conditions. Polyp bail-out consists in the polyps' detachment from the mother colony due to stressful conditions, followed by a complete tissue and cells rearrangement and in some cases in a regression into a simple, ciliated form. Here we desc...

Coral reefs throughout the tropics have experienced large declines in the abundance of scleractinian corals over the last few decades, and some reefs are becoming functionally dominated by animal taxa other than scleractinians. This phenomenon is striking on many shallow reefs in the tropical western Atlantic, where arborescent octocorals now are n...

Submarine canyons are peculiar habitats of the continental margin due to their hydrodynamic and geomorphological features. Coral assemblages forming marine animal forests (MAFs) are one of the key benthic components dwelling in these habitats, where they enhance the substrate's heterogeneity and provide shelter, feeding and spawning habitats for a...

Knowledge about migration potential is key to forecasting species distributions in changing environments. For many marine benthic invertebrates, migration happens during reproduction because of larval dispersal. The present study aims to test whether larval size can be used as a surrogate for migration potential arising from larval longevity, compe...

In this paper, we investigated the age distribution and dynamics of polyps in the slow-growing and long-lived gorgonian Corallium rubrum (the Mediterranean red coral), applying an a posteriori demographic approach by considering each colony as a population of polyps. In the Mediterranean red coral, new polyps emerge from the coenenchyme in differen...

Sessile marine species such as Anthozoans act as ecosystem engineers due to their three-dimensional structure. Gorgonians, in particular, can form dense underwater forests that give shelter to other species increasing local biodiversity. In the last decades, several Mediterranean gorgonian populations have been affected by natural and anthropogenic...

After centuries of human-mediated disturbances, Caribbean reef communities are vastly different from those described in the 1950s. Many are functionally dominated by macroalgae, but this community state represents only one of several possibilities into which present-day coral reefs can transition. Octocorals have always been abundant on Caribbean r...

While it is known that octocorals and trees share many similarities in form and function due to their sessile modular nature, and octocoral communities create dense canopies termed “animal forests,” there has been little quantification of whether these similarities derive from the same ecological and evolutionary processes. Nowadays, octocoral fore...

In recent decades, many Caribbean reefs have experienced large declines in abundance of scleractinian corals, and blooms of fleshy macroalgae have often accompanied these trends. In 2010 a new macroalgal threat emerged in Lac Bay, Bonaire, where peyssonnelid algal crusts (PAC) rapidly spread in shallow water and overgrew corals and sponges. Similar...

Corallium rubrum is an octocoral species, endemic to Mediterranean and neighbouring marine habitats and plays a foundational role in these ecosystems. Due to extensive harvesting and increase in water temperature, this long-lived and slow-growing species is now endangered, and hence it is in the focus of conservation efforts. However, little is kno...

The science of demography was developed for the study of human populations, but the theoretical framework and analytical techniques can be easily applied to animal populations, giving powerful instruments for conservation and management. Demography is then a paradigmatic example of the advantages of interdisciplinary approaches which allow transfer...

Some of the best-known disturbances affecting coral reefs are storms, yet their impacts on light are poorly known. Here, we describe the underwater light on a reef off St. John, US Virgin Islands (18°18′37.04N, 63°43′23.17W), during two hurricanes and multiple tropical waves that occurred between 17 August 2017 and 30 November 2017. Photosynthetica...

Healthy coralligenous habitats may host dense populations of gorgonians, like Paramuricea clavata and Eunicella cavolini that build marine animal forests. According to recent studies, these forests appeared able to increase the resilience of coralligenous habitats and to enhance the structural complexity and bioconstruction processes. They are also...

An important goal of coral reef science is to understand the roles played by environmental conditions in determining benthic community structure. Pursuit of this goal typically involves testing for associations between community structure and environmental conditions, and in recent years, attention has focused on temperature and seawater pH. Such a...

Over the last decades, the global climate change caused increase in seawater temperature, which have shown to be detrimental for Mediterranean red coral populations (Corallium rubrum). Recent researches on C. rubrum described how in shallow water habitats (i.e., up to 50 m depth), thermo-tolerance is influenced by local temperature fluctuations. In...

• Climate‐induced threats are increasingly affecting marine populations worldwide. In the last few decades, several gorgonian species have been affected by mass mortality events in the north‐west Mediterranean, putatively linked to local sea temperature increases during heatwaves. For many benthic sessile species, recovery after disturbances depend...

In a landscape of fear, humans are altering key behaviours of wild-living animals, including those related to foraging, reproduction, and survival. When exposed to potentially lethal human actions, such as hunting or fishing, fish, and wildlife are expected to behaviourally respond by becoming shyer and learning when to be cautious. Using a rich da...

Understanding the patterns of connectivity is required by the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and will be used to guide the extension of marine protection measures. Despite the increasing accuracy of ocean circulation modelling, the capacity to model the population connectivity of sessile benthic species with dispersal larval stages can b...

The occurrence of modified tentacles (i.e. thread-like tentacles) in the Mediterranean octocorals Paramuricea clavata and Corallium rubrum is reported. Colonies of four species of Mediterranean gorgonians were maintained in aquarium conditions for more than 5 months. The development of thread-like tentacles has been observed only in two of the four...

Octocorals have increased in abundance on a number of Caribbean reefs, but this trend has largely been reported with functional group or genus resolution. A species-level analysis of octocoral communities in St. John, US Virgin Islands was conducted to better understand how this taxon will respond to changing conditions based on their synecology at...

In a landscape of fear, humans are altering key behaviors expressed by wild-living animals, including those related to foraging, reproduction and survival. When exposed to potentially lethal human actions, such as hunting or fishing, fish and wildlife is expected to behaviorally respond by becoming more timid, but proving such responses underwater...

Gorgonian corals may form dense canopies, resembling miniature forests. Similarly to terrestrial forests, gorgonian canopies can increase local complexity and biodiversity. The demographic study of gorgonian populations can supply valuable tools to our understanding of their complex, long-lasting life cycles. In this chapter we report on the demogr...

The knowledge on the growth patterns of organisms constructing complex three-dimensional structures can help in understanding their role as engineering species. Growth and form of several sessile organisms are characterized by different properties; one of those is modularity. Trees in terrestrial habitats and corals in marine environments are sessi...

In the marine benthos, megabenthic communities dominated by sessile suspension feeders (such as sponges, corals, and bivalves) form three-dimensional structures which provide architectural complexity and shelter for several species. These communities are, in part, structurally and functionally similar to the terrestrial forests, with the main diffe...

This study investigates the energetic investment in larval release of two Mediterranean gorgonians with different trophic strategies: Eunicella singularis (mixotroph) and Corallium rubrum (heterotroph). Both are internal brooders, releasing larvae within few weeks in summer. A biochemical approach, based on the analysis of stable isotopes, total li...

In the marine benthos, megabenthic communities dominated by sessile suspension feeders (such as sponges, corals, and bivalves) form three-dimensional structures which provide architectural complexity and shelter for several species. These communities are, in part, structurally and functionally similar to the terrestrial forests, with the main diffe...