Influence of size on primary production in the reef coral Pocillopora damicornis and the macroalga Acanthophora spicifera

1986 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Jokiel ◽  
J. I. Morrissey
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Reef Coral ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis

scholarly journals Subcellular Investigation of Photosynthesis-Driven Carbon Assimilation in the Symbiotic Reef Coral Pocillopora damicornis

mBio ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Kopp ◽  
Isabelle Domart-Coulon ◽  
Stephane Escrig ◽  
Bruno M. Humbel ◽  
Michel Hignette ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lipid Droplets ◽  
Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Reef Coral ◽  
Carbon Assimilation ◽  
Isotopic Labeling ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Transmission Electron

ABSTRACT  Reef-building corals form essential, mutualistic endosymbiotic associations with photosynthetic Symbiodinium dinoflagellates, providing their animal host partner with photosynthetically derived nutrients that allow the coral to thrive in oligotrophic waters. However, little is known about the dynamics of these nutritional interactions at the (sub)cellular level. Here, we visualize with submicrometer spatial resolution the carbon and nitrogen fluxes in the intact coral-dinoflagellate association from the reef coral Pocillopora damicornis by combining nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) and transmission electron microscopy with pulse-chase isotopic labeling using [13C]bicarbonate and [15N]nitrate. This allows us to observe that (i) through light-driven photosynthesis, dinoflagellates rapidly assimilate inorganic bicarbonate and nitrate, temporarily storing carbon within lipid droplets and starch granules for remobilization in nighttime, along with carbon and nitrogen incorporation into other subcellular compartments for dinoflagellate growth and maintenance, (ii) carbon-containing photosynthates are translocated to all four coral tissue layers, where they accumulate after only 15 min in coral lipid droplets from the oral gastroderm and within 6 h in glycogen granules from the oral epiderm, and (iii) the translocation of nitrogen-containing photosynthates is delayed by 3 h. IMPORTANCE  Our results provide detailed in situ subcellular visualization of the fate of photosynthesis-derived carbon and nitrogen in the coral-dinoflagellate endosymbiosis. We directly demonstrate that lipid droplets and glycogen granules in the coral tissue are sinks for translocated carbon photosynthates by dinoflagellates and confirm their key role in the trophic interactions within the coral-dinoflagellate association.

scholarly journals TIMING OF LARVAL RELEASE BY REEF CORAL Pocillopora damicornis AT PANJANG ISLAND, CENTRAL JAVA

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munasik ◽  
Suharsono ◽  
J. Situmorang ◽  
H. N. Kamiso
Keyword(s):  
Full Moon ◽  
Reef Coral ◽  
Lunar Cycle ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis ◽  
Larval Release ◽  
Double Peaks ◽  
Central Java ◽  
New Moon ◽  
Peak Release

Monthly larval release by the coral Pocillopora damicornis at Panjang Island, Central Java was investigated. Corals were collected from windward and leeward and maintained in outdoor, flow-trough system to quantify nightly release of larvae. Larval release of the coral occurs every month throughout the year, and its planulation increased during dry monsoon. Monthly planulation occurs from new moon to full moon and possesses in different pattern between single and paired colonies. Planulation in paired colonies occurred in single peak and more synchronized in each colony however single colonies planulated in double peaks and less synchronized in each colony. This study confirmed that planulation period of P. damicornis at Panjang Island over a range of lunar phases with shorter periods of peak release which predominantly controlling by tidal range rather than lunar cycle.

Skeletal Organization in the Coral, Pocillopora Damicornis

1963 ◽  
Vol s3-104 (66) ◽  
pp. 169-183
Author(s):  
STEPHEN A. WAINWRIGHT
Keyword(s):  
Reef Coral ◽  
Average Diameter ◽  
Mineral Deposit ◽  
Amide Group ◽  
Total Weight ◽  
Organic Substrates ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis ◽  
Chitin Synthesis ◽  
Larval Skeleton ◽  
Initial Mineral

The skeleton of this Hawaiian reef coral was found to contain at least 99.9% by weight of the mineral aragonite, present as submicroscopic crystals in spheritic arrangements. The organic component of the skeleton comprises 0.01 to 0.1% of the total weight and has 3 microscopic constituents: (1) filaments of lime-boring algae, (2) a dispersed network of fibres 1 µ in diameter, and (3) a transparent, milky, regionally birefringent matrix of chitin. The chitin was observed to be a spongework of fibrils of average diameter 20 mµ. The chitin fibrils were inferred to be randomly oriented in the plane of the skeletogenic epithelium perpendicular to the direction of growth of the long axes of the aragonite crystals. The development of the skeleton is traced from the initial mineral deposit by the larva after its attachment, through the formation of the larval skeleton and growth into the fully formed, branching colony. The process of formation of chitin fibrils according to the contour of the skeletogenic epithelium and the later deposition of aragonite crystals as described accounts for the formation of all skeletal elements of Pocillopora. Evidence is presented for the hypotheses that (1) the amide group of the chitin molecule is responsible for the ability of certain organic substrates to be calcified (thus protein is not a necessary component of such substrates); (2) zooxanthellae in Pocillopora contribute a product of photosynthesis to the coral as the monomer of the chitin matrix; and (3) chitin synthesis thus depends on the activity of zooxanthellae and the rate of chitin synthesis controls the rate of skeletogenesis in Pocillopora.

scholarly journals Ten polymorphic STR loci in the cosmopolitan reef coral, Pocillopora damicornis

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 619-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRAIG J. STARGER ◽  
SEAN S. R. YEOH ◽  
CHANG-FENG DAI ◽  
ANDREW C. BAKER ◽  
ROB DESALLE
Keyword(s):  
Reef Coral ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis ◽  
Str Loci
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