Table 1.
Coralline algae skeletal banding studies.
Coralline algae reported to have skeletal banding patterns that have been used to measure growth or as a palaeoenvironmental record.
Fig 1.
Conceptacle banding of Porolithon onkodes under UV light;
a. Cross-section of P. onkodes under UV light (BX50 Olympus microscope), arrows point to bands of conceptacles in skeleton made up of two or more conceptacles rows on top of each other; b. Cross-section of P. onkodes under UV light, horizontal arrow point to conceptacles, vertical arrow points to stain mark indicating the start of the summer season.
Fig 2.
Porolithon onkodes long-term sample.
Long-term sample (OE) viewed under UV light showing five alizarin stains, each stain line represents the start of a season, beginning with Spring 2013 the lowest stain mark on the skeleton; conceptacles are also present within the summer growth band.
Fig 3.
Porolithon onkodes density and conceptacle banding.
Three images of the same P. onkodes sample (PK) showing relationship between conceptacle and density banding, arrows indicate areas of a) high density banding (dark areas) in 2D micro-CT image; b) conceptacle banding in UV image; c) high density banding (in light areas) in 3D micro-CT image.
Fig 4.
QEMSCAN of Porolithon onkodes.
Mineralogical mapping using Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN) showing four bands (labelled on right side of image) of dominant mineral changes in P. onkodes from Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. Conceptacles are indicated by arrows. Black lines indicate changes in dominant mineral.
Fig 5.
Mineralogy mapping of Porolithon onkodes skeleton.
Individual QEMSCAN images of dominant mineral compositions, the intensity of the colour reflects the intensity of the mineral a) Mg-calcite; b) Dolomite; c) Magnesite mineral.
Fig 6.
a. SEM of Porolithon onkodes cross-section showing no regular banding patterns (from changes in cell size) as seen in other coralline algae samples (e.g., as shown in [17]). Vertical arrows indicate areas of higher density within the conceptacle band, horizontal arrow indicates conceptacle, b. Rapid growth cells in Porolithon onkodes. Long, less calcified cells in P. onkodes skeleton on the top right hand corner of image (upper arrow) indicate an area of rapid growth compared to cells beneath this (lower arrow); in this sample the rapid growth overgrew the epoxy that had covered that part of the epithallus.
Fig 7.
Porolithon onkodes seasonal mol% Mg.
XRD analysis showing the seasonal variation in the mol% Mg of P. onkodes from the Great Barrier Reef. Values are means ± SD, n = 5
Fig 8.
Porolithon onkodes conceptacle banding.
UV image of Porolithon onkodes (NV) showing four bands of conceptacles (represented by the four horizontal bands of white dots) indicating age and growth rate of the sample. The growing edge is located at the top of the sample.