The demosponge siliceous spicules, entrapped in the Mediterranean coralligenous bioherms, are a good tool for reconstructing the sponge ancient communities across time, also allowing a comparison with the current biodiversity. The aim of this paper has been the description of the ancient sponge assemblages of the coralligenous bioherms grown up in the Tavolara-Capo Coda Cavallo Marine Protected Area (northeastern Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea) between 5800 and 3700 YBP and its comparison with the living sponge community. On the base of radiocarbon age determinations, it was possible to estimate that these bioherms cover a span of time ranging from the Holocene Climatic Optimum until the Bronze Age Crisis. Their growth rates, 0.21–0.24 mm year−1, were of the same order of estimations conducted around the Mediterranean. The Tavolara ancient sponge diversity was compared with those found in ancient accretions from Ligurian Sea and Ionian Sea. Our results supported the already-described general trend, supporting the hypothesis that the genus richness in the coralligenous bioherms was driven by climatic vicissitudes. Nevertheless, our data strongly indicated that the sponge diversity is also related to the conditions of the coralligenous structures: in the accretions characterized by an active growth of coralline algae the number of sponge genera is similar to those recorded in the ancient assemblages while in coralligenous where the accretion is stopped the number of sponge genera strongly decreases probably due to the competition with frondose macroalgae.

中文翻译：

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几千年来第勒尼安珊瑚的古代和近代海绵组合（地中海）

被困在地中海珊瑚生物礁中的Demosponge硅质针状体是重建海绵古代群落的好工具，也可以与当前的生物多样性进行比较。本文的目的是描述在 5800 到 3700 YBP 之间在 Tavolara-Capo Coda Cavallo 海洋保护区（撒丁岛东北部，第勒尼安海）生长的珊瑚生物礁的古代海绵组合及其与活海绵群落的比较. 根据放射性碳年龄测定，可以估计这些生物礁覆盖的时间跨度从全新世气候最优到青铜时代危机。它们的增长率为 0.21-0.24 毫米第 1 年，与地中海周围进行的估计具有相同的数量级。将 Tavolara 古代海绵多样性与在利古里亚海和爱奥尼亚海的古代沉积物中发现的多样性进行了比较。我们的结果支持了已经描述的总体趋势，支持了珊瑚生物礁的属丰富度是由气候变迁驱动的假设。尽管如此，我们的数据强烈表明海绵多样性也与珊瑚结构的条件有关：在以珊瑚藻活跃生长为特征的增生中，海绵属的数量与古代组合中记录的数量相似，而在珊瑚藻中，由于与叶状大型藻类的竞争，吸积停止海绵属的数量急剧减少。我们的结果支持了已经描述的总体趋势，支持了珊瑚生物礁的属丰富度是由气候变迁驱动的假设。尽管如此，我们的数据强烈表明海绵多样性也与珊瑚结构的条件有关：在以珊瑚藻活跃生长为特征的增生中，海绵属的数量与古代组合中记录的数量相似，而在珊瑚藻中，由于与叶状大型藻类的竞争，吸积停止海绵属的数量急剧减少。我们的结果支持了已经描述的总体趋势，支持了珊瑚生物礁的属丰富度是由气候变迁驱动的假设。尽管如此，我们的数据强烈表明海绵多样性也与珊瑚结构的条件有关：在以珊瑚藻活跃生长为特征的增生中，海绵属的数量与古代组合中记录的数量相似，而在珊瑚藻中，由于与叶状大型藻类的竞争，吸积停止海绵属的数量急剧减少。