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Bassi, D.; Iryu, Y.; Humblet, M.; Matsuda, H.; Machiyama, H.; Sasaki, K.; Matsuda, S.; Arai, K., and Inoue, T., 2019. Deep-water macroid beds of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan: Encrusting acervulinids as ecosystem engineers. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(2), 463–466. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Encrusting acervulinid foraminifera can produce centimeter-sized, free-living coated grains named macroids. Macroid beds are an interesting feature of subtidal environments and have been recognized as important carbonate producers, habitat-forming structures, and paleoenvironmental indicators. Macroids provide a hard, three-dimensional substrate serving as microhabitat for a wide range of diverse organisms. As yet, the most extensive known occurrence of macroid beds in the western Pacific Ocean is found on the insular shelf of Kikai-jima, a coral reef–related island in the central Ryukyu Islands. The surveyed beds occur at water depth of 61–105 m arrayed on a ca. 6-km2 area. Despite their importance for the benthic communities of the Ryukyu Islands, only in the last decade have sampling efforts led to a more comprehensive understanding of the beds' distribution, their structure and associated communities, and the data concerning the influence of environmental factors on macroid beds and their ecological dynamics. In this study, the available information on the biodiversity associated with the recently described Ryukyu macroid beds are reviewed. This review is intended to inform and influence future research and policy planning on this largely unexplored, highly diverse marine ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Sandy and gravelly carbonate sediments found off Kikai-jima, southern Japan, a coral reef-related island shelf, represent the northernmost sub-tropical, carbonate deposits in the Central Ryukyu Islands (Ryukyus). On the Kikai-jima shelf, at water depths of 61 to 105 m, these sediments are characterized by macroid pavements. Since the abundance of very small and of exceptionally large macroids may indicate specific hydrodynamic controls regarding constraints on growth and taphonomy, the detailed analysis of recent and fossil macroid pavements is meaningful ecologically and environmentally. Macroids, ranging in size from ca 25 to 130 mm in diameter, are spheroidal and sub-spheroidal in shape and consist mainly of the encrusting foraminifer Acervulina inhaerens and subordinate thin encrusting and lumpy coralline algae. Accessory components include bryozoans, serpulids and, to a lesser extent, encrusting arborescent foraminifera ( Homotrema and Miniacina). Low sedimentation rates and occasional movement due to current action are indicated by sizes, shapes and growth-forms of the studied macroids, the Entobia-Gastrochaenolites-Trypanites-Maeandropolydora ichnocoenosis and the 'Bioerosion Index' for coated grains (introduced herein). The deep-water tidally induced current energy was sufficient to maintain multi-directional growth (spheroidal shapes) of the larger macroids and to initiate macroid growth using the diverse biogenic remnants as nuclei. The asymmetrical inner arrangement suggests possible periods of stability for the macroids. The residence time of the coated grain in its original environment determines the size and morphology of the macroid and the selection of coating organisms. The composition of the coating community is mainly a consequence of component growth rates in relation to turnover time and residence time. Long-term studies are needed to assess the spatial and temporal resolution of present-day encrusting communities across biogeographic provinces and shelf to slope regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The distribution, abundance, composition, and growth history of rhodoliths were investigated based on 222 grab samples and 202 submarine photographs taken from 223 sites arranged at regular intervals and on 13 additional samples (5 dredge and 8 grab samples). These samples were collected at water depths ranging from 15 to 970m around Okinawa-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The rhodoliths grow in deep fore-reef to shelf areas at water depths of 50 to 135m. Where rhodoliths occur, they cover 45% of the sea bottom. The rhodoliths are primarily spheroidal to ellipsoidal in shape (with mean diameters usually less than 8cm); internally they are primarily composed of nongeniculate coralline algae and an encrusting foraminifer Acervulina inhaerens. The rhodoliths have envelopes of well-preserved, concentric to irregular laminations or, much more commonly, are bored and display various degrees of bioerosion. Constructional voids (primary spaces between encrusters) and borings range from empty to completely filled with unlithified and lithified mixtures of micrites and bioclasts. The bioerosion is more extensive with increasing water depth and is progressively much more pervasive at water depths greater than 90m. The rhodoliths are covered with nongeniculate coralline algae and A. inhaerens associated with other epilithic skeletal and nonskeletal organisms. The living biotic cover on rhodoliths is relatively great down to water depths ~100m; below this, the cover decreases rapidly with increasing water depth. Rhodoliths with similar size, shape, and composing organisms to those in the Ryukyu Islands are commonly found on deep fore-reef to shelf areas or on the banks and seamounts of tropical reef regions, likely as the combined result of ecological degradation (=decreased number and coverage) of hermatypic corals and the relative predominance of nongeniculate coralline algae and encrusting foraminifers in such areas. The slow accretion rates of rhodoliths (<0.1mm/year) indicate that their formation is commonly to frequently intermittent, probably because of their burial in the surrounding sediment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]