Global ocean circulation and coral reefs

Abstract

The global distribution of reefs is a product of the major patterns of ocean circulation that have existed since Early Cenozoic which, in turn, were dependent on continental movements. Reef distributions are also controlled by the presence or absence or reef-building corals and therefore the physical parameters which control the growth of zooxanthellate corals. Of these, temperature is critical, the lower boundary of which is different for reefs and corals. Currents are also the pathways of dispersal of most marine taxa and are thus the principal drivers of evolutionary change. On finer scales, currents are an intimate part of reef ecological processes and morphologies.