Marine bioerosion

Research conducted in the Mediterranean significantly contributed to our understanding of bioerosion, providing faunistic records and key information about the succession that occurs when fresh substrate is colonized by eroding biota. Bioeroders that have a substantial role in the Mediterranean are microendoliths, sponges, boring mollusks and various grazers. A multitude of environmental factors controls their abundances, diversities and eroding capacities. With ongoing climate change, several of these factors are likely to magnify the effects of bioerosion in the Mediterranean and worldwide. We regard eutrophication as the most important in the Mediterranean, but climate change, especially ocean acidification, will also have an important effect. Should bioerosion levels change, characteristic limestone coasts will be impacted, as will be community and sediment compositions, enigmatic cold-water coral ecosystems, mollusk aquaculture and man- made materials that are submerged. Understudied topics in Mediterranean bioerosion include rates, interactions at community level, as well as direct effects of climate change.