Note: Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- The Coral Tree at the End of the World: Introductory Notes to Coralline Mythology and Folklore from the Indian and Pacific Oce... -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Coral as Landscape -- 3 Coral as Sacred Place -- 4 Coral as Being -- 5 Conclusions -- References -- The Marine Animal Forests of South Africa: Importance for Bioregionalization and Marine Spatial Planning -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Oceanography, Biogeography and Biodiversity of Mainland South Africa´s Exclusive Economic Zone -- 3 Marine Animal Forest Ecosystems: Marine Benthic Eco-engineers in South Africa -- 3.1 Sponge Grounds -- 3.2 Shallow-Water Subtropical Coral Communities -- 3.3 Cold-Water Coral Reefs and Coral Communities -- 3.4 Octocoral Gardens -- 3.5 Sea Anemones -- 3.6 Bryozoan Thickets -- 3.7 Ascidians -- 4 Threats to South African Marine Animal Forests and Their Mitigation -- 4.1 Seabed Impacts Caused by Offshore Fishing and Mining in South Africa -- 4.2 Climate Change -- 5 Identifying and Protecting Important Areas of Marine Habitat and Biodiversity -- 5.1 Marine Protected Areas -- 5.2 Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas and Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems -- 5.3 Marine Spatial Planning -- 6 Conclusion -- References -- Coral and Reef Fish Communities in the Thermally Extreme Persian/Arabian Gulf: Insights into Potential Climate Change Effects -- 1 Coral Reefs Around the Globe Are Facing Major Challenges in the Face of Climate Change, with Changing Environmental Conditio... -- 2 The Gulf Is the World´s Hottest Sea Each Summer and Is, Thus, a Natural Laboratory to Understand How Climate Change Might Af... -- 3 The Cost of Surviving in an Extreme Environment Is Low Diversity and Limited Three-Dimensional Structure of Corals. , 4 With a Limited Reef Framework Comes Low Diversity, Abundance, Biomass, Size at Maturity of Fishes, and Different Functional ... -- 5 Today´s Gulf Coral Communities Can Offer Insights into What Other Reefs Around the Globe May Look Like in the Future -- References -- Marginal Reefs in the Anthropocene: They Are Not Noah´s Ark -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Marginal Reefs (MRs) -- 3 Stability of Marginal Reefs -- 3.1 Resistance and Resilience: Core Concepts of Reef Systems -- 3.2 Lower than Expected: Vulnerability to Pressures and Thresholds of Resistance of Marginal Reefs -- 3.2.1 Turbid-Zone Reefs -- 3.2.2 High-Temperature and High-Latitude Reefs -- 3.2.3 Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems -- 4 Refugia Potential of Marginal Reefs -- 4.1 Refugia: Right Concepts to Solve the Misunderstanding -- 4.2 Refugia for Whom? Dimensions of Reef Biodiversity -- 4.3 Finding Refugia Areas -- 5 Management for Marginal Reef Persistence -- 6 Concluding Thoughts -- References -- Animal Forests in Submarine Caves -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Biostructures in Submarine Caves and Variability of Their Composition -- 2.1 Type 1: Coralligenous Type -- 2.2 Type 2: Other Bioconstructions -- 2.3 Type 3: Biostalactites -- 3 The Animal Forests of Submarine Caves -- 4 Perspectives -- References -- The Tubeworm Forests of Hydrothermal Vents and Cold Seeps -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 The Deep-Sea Setting -- 1.1.1 Chemosynthesis -- 1.2 Forests in Environments of Chemosynthesis -- 2 Diversity and Distribution of Tubeworms -- 2.1 What Are Vestimentiferans? -- 2.2 Distribution of Hydrothermal Vent Tubeworms -- 2.3 Distribution of Methane/Cold Seep Tubeworms -- 2.4 Intersecting Ecosystems -- 3 Nature of the ``Trees in the Forest´´ -- 3.1 Siboglinid Biology -- 3.1.1 The Tubes -- 3.2 Extreme Age in Seep Tubeworms -- 4 The Tubeworm Forest Habitat -- 4.1 Formation of the Vent Tubeworm Habitat. , 4.2 ``Forest´´ Architecture -- 4.3 Features of the Vent Tubeworm Canopy Habitat -- 4.4 The Seep Tubeworm Forest -- 5 The Forest Denizens -- 5.1 A Specialized Fauna -- 5.2 Character of the Inhabitants -- 5.3 Assemblage Structure -- 5.4 Species Interactions -- 6 Temporal Change in the Forest -- 6.1 Recruitment of Vestimentiferans -- 6.2 Arrival of the Denizens -- 6.3 Export of Productivity -- 6.4 Senescence and Termination -- 7 Tubeworm Forests and Humans -- 7.1 Fundamental Knowledge of Life Processes -- 7.2 Genetic Resources and Potential -- 7.3 Anthropogenic Impacts -- 8 Summary -- References -- Bryozoans: The `Forgotten´ Bioconstructors -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Bryozoa: A Brief Review -- 3 Fossil Bryozoan Bioconstructions -- 4 Recent Bryozoan Bioconstructions -- 5 Mineralization Patterns Through Time -- 6 Bryozoan Bioconstructions Under Climate Change -- 7 The Role and Potential of `Forgotten´ Bioconstructions in Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies -- 8 Conclusions -- References -- Polychaetes as Habitat Former: Structure and Function -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Polychaetes Forming Biogenic Structures -- 2.1 Reef Building Polychaetes -- 2.2 Soft Bottom Polychaetes Engineers -- 3 Polychaete Biogenic Structure Functionalities -- 3.1 Habitat Formers Building Biogenic Reefs -- 3.2 Polychaete Aggregations in Soft Bottoms -- 4 Temporal Variations: Persistence, Degeneration and Recovery -- 5 Perspectives in Conservation: Sensitivity and Threats -- 6 Conclusions -- Literature -- Chemical War in Marine Animal Forests: Natural Products and Chemical Interactions -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Interactions and Natural Products -- 2.1 Chemical Ecology -- 2.2 Reproduction, Settlement, and Recruitment -- 2.3 Habitat Specificity -- 3 Chemical Defenses -- 3.1 Types of Chemical Defenses and Potential Uses -- 3.2 Chemical Defenses in the Different Taxa. , 3.3 Antifouling and Antimicrobial Defenses -- 3.4 Geographical Considerations -- 4 Evolution and Chemical Theories -- 4.1 Chemical Defense Theories -- 4.2 Coevolution -- 4.3 Colors and the Role of Pigments -- 5 The Role of Microorganisms -- 6 Chemical Ecology and Global Change -- 7 Conclusions and Future Directions -- References -- The Nursery Role of Marine Animal Forests -- 1 Structured Habitats and the Nursery Role -- 2 Approaches for the Study of MAF Nurseries -- 3 Nurseries Across Space and Time -- 3.1 An Overview on the Nursery Role of Short-Lived Taxa of Marine Animal Forests -- 3.2 Nurseries in Long-Lasting Marine Animal Forests -- 3.2.1 Cold Water Corals -- Scleractinia -- Antipatharia -- Alcyonacea and Pennatulacea (Octocorallia) -- 3.2.2 Porifera -- 4 Conclusion and Perspectives -- References -- Marine Animal Forests as Carbon Immobilizers or Why We Should Preserve These Three-Dimensional Alive Structures -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Calculation of C Immobilization: Extrapolations and Limitations -- 2.1 The Carbon Sink Polemic: Coral Reefs -- 2.2 How Much Time Immobilized or Sequestered? -- 2.3 Methods to Extrapolate C Immobilization -- 2.4 Seasonality and C Immobilization -- 3 How Much C Is Stored? -- 3.1 Comparison with Other Species/Ecosystems -- 3.2 Future of C Sinks Due to Changes in Food Availability and Climate Change -- 4 How We Transformed C Immobilization Through the Time: Some Interesting Stories -- 4.1 Terrestrial Forests -- 4.2 Coral Reef Stories -- 4.3 Emperor Sea Mountain Story -- 4.4 Red Coral Story -- 4.5 Oyster Beds -- 5 Who Is Destroying the MAF C Sinks? -- 5.1 Bottom Trawling in the Continental Shelf and Deep-Sea Habitats -- 5.2 Deep-Sea Mining -- 5.3 Coastal Transformations -- 5.4 Climate Change -- 5.5 Are We Losing an Ally? -- 6 Preservation and Restoration: Challenges and Some New Ideas. , 6.1 Conservation Measures for Marine Animal Forest Carbon Sinks -- 6.2 May MAF Restoration Be Part of the Solution for C Immobilization and Biodiversity Enhancement? -- 6.3 What If We Engage People for Active Restoration Plans? The Role of Artificial Reefs and Active Restoration in C Immobiliza... -- 6.4 Climate Change Mitigation Using Deep MAF Restoration -- 7 The Whole Concept: Toward a Recovery of C Immobilization in the Sea -- References -- From Trees to Octocorals: The Role of Self-Thinning and Shading in Underwater Animal Forests -- 1 Octocorals and the Future of Coral Reefs -- 2 Bridging the Gap: From Trees to Octocorals -- 3 Self-Thinning -- 4 Density Dependence and Canopy Effect -- 5 Shading -- 6 Future Directions -- References -- Invasive Alien Species and Their Effects on Marine Animal Forests -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Theoretical Considerations -- 3 Historical and Evolutionary Considerations -- 4 Role of Reproduction Strategies -- 5 Vectors and Pathways -- 6 Overview of Marine Invasive Groups -- 6.1 Sponges -- 6.2 Cnidarians -- 6.3 Bryozoans -- 6.4 Polychaetes -- 6.5 Barnacles -- 6.6 Bivalves -- 6.7 Ascidians -- 6.8 Algae -- 6.9 Fish -- 7 Chemical Ecology -- 8 Microbial Ecology -- 9 Formers of Novel MAFs -- 10 Case Studies -- 10.1 Vermetid Reefs -- 10.2 Coral Reefs -- 10.3 Temperate Reefs -- 10.4 Mediterranean Coralligenous Ecosystem -- 10.5 Carijoa -- 11 Conclusions, Perspectives, and Challenges for Future Research -- References -- Plastics: An Additional Threat for Coral Ecosystems -- 1 Introduction -- 2 To What Extent Are Coral Reefs Exposed to Plastic Litter? -- 3 What Are the Effects of Plastics on Coral Physiology? -- 4 What Is the Ecological Risk for Coral Ecosystems? -- 5 Further Directions -- References. , Visual Methods for Monitoring Mesophotic-to-Deep Reefs and Animal Forests: Finding a Compromise Between Analytical Effort and.