Seasonal density banding in coral skeletons offers a unique key to unravelling coral growth through time. Optical densitometry from x-radiographs will be used to calculate annual linear extension and skeletal density – thus calcification – of Goniopora spp. fragments from the coral reef matrix. This pre- industrial revolution baseline, extending back 1000 years, will allow analyses of past, present, and future relationships between environmental stressors and coral growth.
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