Rhodoliths are coralline red algal assemblages that commonly occur in marine habitats from the tropics to polar latitudes. They form rigid structures of high-magnesium calcite and have a good fossil record. Here I show that rhodoliths are ecosystem engineers in a high Arctic environment that increase local biodiversity by providing habitat. Gouged by boring mussels, originally solid rhodoliths become hollow ecospheres intensely colonised by benthic organisms. In the examined shelf areas, biodiversity in rhodolith-bearing habitats is significantly greater than in habitats without rhodoliths and hollow rhodoliths yield a greater biodiversity than solid ones. This biodiversity, however, is threatened because hollow rhodoliths take a long time to form and are susceptible to global change and anthropogenic impacts such as trawl net fisheries that can destroy hollow rhodoliths. Rhodoliths and other forms of coralline red algae play a key role in a plurality of environments and need improved management and protection plans.

Teichert S., Woelkerling W., Rüggeberg A., Wisshak M., Piepenburg D., Meyerhöfer M., Form A., Büdenbender J. and Freiwald A. 2012. Rhodolith beds (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) and their physical and biological environment at 80°31′N in Nordkappbukta (Nordaustlandet, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway). Phycologia 51: 371–390. DOI: 10.2216/11-76.1 Polar coralline red algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) that form rhodoliths have received little attention concerning their potential as ecosystem engineers and carbonate factories; although, recent findings revealed that they are much more widespread in polar waters than previously thought. The present study deals with the northernmost rhodolith communities currently known, discovered in 2006 at 80°31′N in Nordkappbukta (North Cape Bay) at Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. These perennial coralline algae must be adapted to extreme seasonality in terms of light regime (c. 4 months winter darkness), sea ice coverage, nutrient supply, turbidity of the water column, temperature and sa...

In this study we present a comparative quantification of CaCO3 production rates by rhodolith-forming coralline red algal communities situated in high polar latitudes and assess which environmental parameters control these production rates. The present rhodoliths act as ecosystem engineers, and their carbonate skeletons provide an important ecological niche to a variety of benthic organisms. The settings are distributed along the coasts of the Svalbard archipelago, being Floskjeret (78°18' N) in Isfjorden, Krossfjorden (79°08' N) at the eastern coast of Haakon VII Land, Mosselbukta (79°53' N) at the eastern coast of Mosselhalvøya, and Nordkappbukta (80°31' N) at the northern coast of Nordaustlandet. All sites feature Arctic climate and strong seasonality. The algal CaCO3 production rates were calculated from fuchsine-stained, presumably annual growth increments exhibited by the rhodoliths and range from 100.9 g (CaCO3) m−2 yr−1 at Nordkappbukta to 200.3 g (CaCO3) m−2 yr−1 at Floskjeret. The rates correlate to various environmental parameters with geographical latitude being the most significant (negative correlation, R2 = 0.95, p = 0.0070), followed by the duration of the polar night (negative correlation, R2 = 0.93, p = 0.0220), the duration of the sea ice cover (negative correlation, R2 = 0.87, p = 0.0657), and the annual mean temperature (positive correlation, R2 = 0.48, p = 0.0301). This points out sufficient light incidence to be the main control of the growth of the examined coralline red algal rhodolith communities, while temperature is less important. Thus, the ongoing global change with its rising temperatures will most likely result in impaired conditions for the algae, because the concomitant increased global runoff will decrease water transparency and hence light incidence at the four offshore sites. Regarding the aforementioned role of the rhodoliths as ecosystem engineers, the impact on the associated organisms will presumably also be negative.

Crustose coralline red algae (CCA) play a key role in the consolidation of many modern tropical coral reefs. It is unclear, however, if their function as reef consolidators was equally pronounced in the geological past. Using a comprehensive database on ancient reefs, we show a strong correlation between the presence of CCA and the formation of true coral reefs throughout the last 150 Ma. We investigated if repeated breakdowns in the potential capacity of CCA to spur reef development were associated with sea level, ocean temperature, CO₂concentration, CCA species diversity, and/or the evolution of major herbivore groups. Model results show that the correlation between the occurrence of CCA and the development of true coral reefs increased with CCA diversity and cooler ocean temperatures while the diversification of herbivores had a transient negative effect. The evolution of novel herbivore groups compromised the interaction between CCA and true reef growth at least three times in the investigated time interval. These crises have been overcome by morphological adaptations of CCA.

There is an increasing number of studies reporting microplastic (MP) contamination in the Arctic environment. We analysed MP abundance in samples from a marine Arctic ecosystem that has not been investigated in this context and that features a high biodiversity: hollow rhodoliths gouged by the bivalve Hiatella arctica. This bivalve is a filter feeder that potentially accumulates MPs and may therefore reflect MP contamination of the rhodolith ecosystem at northern Svalbard. Our analyses revealed that 100% of the examined specimens were contaminated with MP, ranging between one and 184 MP particles per bivalve in samples from two water depths. Polymer composition and abundance differed strongly between both water depths: samples from 40 m water depth showed a generally higher concentration of MPs and were clearly dominated by polystyrene, samples from 27 m water depth were more balanced in composition, mainly consisting of polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polypropylene. Long-term consequences of MP contamination in the investigated bivalve species and for the rhodolith bed ecosystem are yet unclear. However, the uptake of MPs may potentially impact H. arctica and consequently its functioning as ecosystem engineers in Arctic rhodolith beds.