. The ecology of deep and shallow coral reefs : results of a workshop on coral reef ecology held by the American Society of Zoologists, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1983. Coral reef ecology. Nutrient regeneration also occurs in lagoon sediments (Entch, et al., 1983) where nutrients are utilized by extensive macroalgae and turtle grass beds. These beds are heavily grazed upon by reef fish. Many of these fish exhibit diel migration patterns, whereby they graze on the backreef and in the lagoons by day but shelter in the deeper forereef by night. Material that they transport in their guts
. The ecology of deep and shallow coral reefs : results of a workshop on coral reef ecology held by the American Society of Zoologists, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1983. Coral reef ecology. Nutrient regeneration also occurs in lagoon sediments (Entch, et al., 1983) where nutrients are utilized by extensive macroalgae and turtle grass beds. These beds are heavily grazed upon by reef fish. Many of these fish exhibit diel migration patterns, whereby they graze on the backreef and in the lagoons by day but shelter in the deeper forereef by night. Material that they transport in their guts at dusk is defecated over the forereef or in their nocturnal shelters. This form of transport may be an important means of upstream nutrient recycling on coral reefs. The reverse cycle of migration (nocturnal feeding, daytime sheltering) by juvenile grunts has been shown to have measureable impact on nutrient concentrations around coral heads (Meyer, et al., 1983). PATHWAYS OF NUTRIENT TRANSFER DIRECT TRANSFER PARTICULATE ' DISSOLVED. DETRITUS » FEEDERS Figure 1. Diagramatic representation of nutrient pathways on a coral reef. FUNCTIONAL GROUPS The various processes and functional groups involved in coral reef nutrient dynamics are diagramatically represented in Figure 1. New nutrients enter the system in both dissolved and particulate form, or are generated in situ by N2 fixation. Dissolved nutrients and some particulates are taken up by the organisms included in the "fine-pore concentrators" group made up of algae and zooxanthellae. Other particulates are trapped by the reef framework and by filter-feeding organisms, which I call the "coarse-pore concentrators". Planktivorous fish also concentrate particulates and have been shown to excrete and defecate significant amounts of NH4 and organic material in their nocturnal shelters (Bray, 1982). Herbivores graze on the algae and corals, and carnivores, in turn, feed on the herbivores. The fecal material from
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