Bioerosion

Bioerosion is the removal of hard biological substrates by living organisms. In marine environments, it involves macroborers that drill into substrates such as coral skeletons, limestone, and shells, including sponges (notably Cliona), shipworms (bivalves in the family Teredinidae), and polychaete worms, as well as microborers such as endolithic algae, cyanobacteria, and fungi that penetrate surfaces on a microscopic scale. These organisms remove material through mechanical boring and by chemical dissolution, generating tunnels, holes, or cavities and weakening the substrate.

Bioerosion influences reef framework, sediment production, and habitat structure; it reduces reef accretion, increases porosity, and can accelerate reef turnover. It also affects fossil preservation by removing carbonate and leaving trace fossils. The rate of bioerosion depends on the community of borers, substrate composition, depth, temperature, and chemistry, and tends to vary regionally and with environmental change.

In research and teaching, bioerosion is studied in both modern and fossil contexts to understand carbonate platform dynamics, reef resilience, and past ocean conditions. Understanding these processes helps explain how reefs and carbonate rocks will respond to climate change, ocean acidification, and other stressors that alter organism abundance and activity.