Abstract
Nitrification in the coral reef community at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, elevated the nitrate concentration to above that of the nearby open ocean water. Reef corals and a zooxanthellae-bearing foraminiferan were shown to take up nitrate from nitrate-enriched seawater; a lag period was absent, indicating that the responsible enzymes did not require induction. The relationship of nitrate uptake to seawater nitrate concentration could be described by a hyperbola with a non-zero intercept on the abscissa. Corals are opportunistic in acquiring nitrogen; in addition to gaining particulate nitrogen from ingested food, they acquire dissolved nitrogen in the form of nitrate, ammonia and urea.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Caperon, J. and J. Meyer: Nitrogen-limited growth of marine phytoplankton-II. Uptake kinetics and their role in nutrient limited growth of phytoplankton. Deep-Sea Res. 19, 619–632 (1972)
Crossland, C.J. and D.J. Barnes: The role of metabolic nitrogen in coral calcification. Mar. Biol. 28, 325–332 (1974)
D'Elia, C.F.: Aspects of the phosphorus flux of scleractinian corals, 115 pp. Ph.D. thesis, University of Georgia, Athens 1974
—: The uptake and release of dissolved phosphorus by reef corals. Limnol. Oceanogr. 22, 301–316 (1977)
—: and K.L. Webb: The dissolved nitrogen flux of reef corals. In: Proceedings of the Third International Coral Reef Symposium. 1. Biology, pp 325–330. Ed. by D.L. Taylor. Miami: University of Miami 1977
Franzisket, L.: Uptake and accumulation of nitrate and nitrite by reef corals. Naturwissenschaften 12, p. 552 (1973)
—: Nitrate uptake by reef corals. Int. Revue ges. Hydrobiol. 59, 1–7 (1974)
Johannes, R.E.: Sources of nutritional energy for reef corals. In: Proceedings of the second International Coral Reef Symposium. I, pp 133–137. Brisbane: Great Barrier Reef Committee 1974
—, S.L. Coles and N.T. Kuenzel: The role of zooplankton in the nutrition of some scleractinian corals. Limnol. Oceanogr. 15, 579–586 (1970)
Kawaguti, S.: Ammonium metabolism of the reef corals. Biol. J. Okayama Univ. 1, 171–176 (1953)
Land, L.S., J.C. Lang and B.N. Smith: Preliminary observations on the carbon isotopic composition of some reef coral tissues and symbiotic zooxanthellae. Limnol. Oceanogr. 20, 283–287 (1975)
Lewis, D.H. and D.C. Smith: The autotrophic nutrition of symbiotic marine coelenterates with special reference to hermatypic corals. 1. Movement of photosynthetic products between the symbionts. Proc. R. Soc. (Ser. B) 178, 111–129 (1971)
Limer 1975 Expedition Team: Metabolic processes of coral reef communities at Lizard Island, Queensland. Search, Sydney 7, 463–468 (1976)
Muscatine, L. and J.W. Porter: Reef corals: mutualistic symbioses adapted to nutrient-poor environments. BioSci. 27, 454–460 (1977)
Nason, A.: Nitrate reductases. In: The enzymes, Vol. 7. pp 587–607. Ed. by P.D. Boyer, H. Lardy and K. Myrbäck. New York: Academic Press 1963
Paasche, E.: Silicon and the ecology of marine plankton diatoms. I. Thalassiosira pseudonana (Cyclotella nana) grown in a chemostat with silicate as limiting nutrient. Mar. Biol. 19, 117–126 (1973)
Pomeroy, L.R., M.E.Q. Pilson and W.J. Wiebe; Tracer studies of the exchange of phosphorus between reef water and organisms on the windward reef of Eniwetok Atoll. In: Proceedings of the Second International Coral Reef Symposium. I, pp 87–96. Brisbane: Great Barrier Reef Committee 1974
Porter, J.W.: Autotrophy, heterotrophy, and resource partitioning in Caribbean reef-building corals. Am. Nat. 110, 731–742 (1976)
Solórzano, L.: Determination of ammonia in natural waters by the phenolhypochlorite method. Limnol. Oceanogr. 14, 799–801 (1969)
Stainton, M.P.: Simple, efficient reduction column for use in the automated determination of nitrate in water. Analyt. Chem. 46, p. 1616 (1974)
Strickland, J.D.H. and T.R. Parsons: A practical handbook of seawater analysis. Bull. Fish. Res. Bd Can. 167, 1–311 (1968)
Szmant-Froelich, A. and M.E.Q. Pilson: Nitrogen excretion by colonies of the temperate coral Astrangia danae with and without zooxanthellae. In: Proceedings of the Third International Coral Reef Symposium. 1. Biology, pp 417–423. Ed. by D.L. Taylor. Miami: University of Miami 1977
Trench, R.K.: Nutritional potentials in Zoanthus Sociatus (Coelenterata, Anthozoa). Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 26, 176–216 (1974)
Webb, K.L.: Nitrogen determinations. In: Handbook on coral research methods, Ed. by D.R. Stoddart. Paris: UNESCO (In press)
— and W.J. Wiebe: Nitrification on a coral reef. Can. J. Microbiol. 21, 1427–1431 (1975)
Wiebe, W.J., R.E. Johannes and K.L. Webb: Nitrogen fixation in a coral reef community. Science, N.Y. 188, 257–259 (1975)
Wilkinson, G.N.: Statistical estimations in enzyme kinetics. Biochem. J. 80, 324–332 (1961)
Yonge, C.M. and A.G. Nicholls: Studies on the physiology of carals. IV. The structure, distribution and physiology of zooxanthellae. Scient. Rep. Gt Barrier Reef Exped. 1, 135–176 (1931)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Webb, K.L., Wiebe, W.J. The kinetics and possible significance of nitrate uptake by several algal-invertebrate symbioses. Mar. Biol. 47, 21–27 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397015
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397015