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Carbon translocation from symbiont to host depends on irradiance and food availability in the tropical coral Stylophora pistillata

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Abstract

Reef-building corals live in symbiosis with dinoflagellates that translocate a large proportion of their photosynthetically fixed carbon compounds to their coral host for its own metabolism. The carbon budget and translocation rate, however, vary depending on environmental conditions, coral host species, and symbiont clade. To quantify variability in carbon translocation in response to environmental conditions, this study assessed the effect of two different irradiance levels (120 and 250 μmol photons m−2 s−1) and feeding regimes (fed with Artemia salina nauplii and unfed) on the carbon budget of the tropical coral Stylophora pistillata. For this purpose, H13CO3 −-enriched seawater was used to trace the conversion of photosynthetic carbon into symbiont and coral biomass and excrete particulate organic carbon. Results showed that carbon translocation (ca. 78 %) and utilization were similar under both irradiance levels for unfed colonies. In contrast, carbon utilization by fed colonies was dependent on the growth irradiance. Under low irradiance, heterotrophy was accompanied by lower carbon translocation (71 %), higher host and symbiont biomass, and higher calcification rates. Under high irradiance, heterotrophy was accompanied by higher rates of photosynthesis, respiration, and carbon translocation (90 %) as well as higher host biomass. Hence, levels of resource sharing within coral–dinoflagellate symbioses depend critically on environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Cécile Rottier and Séverine Sikorski for laboratory assistance and Prof. Denis Allemand, Director of the Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), for scientific support. We also thank Dr. Sylvie Tambutté for fruitful discussion on light-enhanced calcification as well as two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. Funding was provided by the CSM, the Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant # ES D3—378797—2009 to PT).

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  1. P. Tremblay

    Present address: Département de biologie, chimie et géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC, G5L 3A1, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine 1er, 98000, Monaco, Monaco

    P. Tremblay, R. Grover & C. Ferrier-Pagès

  2. LEA CSM-CNRS “BIOSENSIB”, 98000, Monaco, Monaco

    P. Tremblay, R. Grover & C. Ferrier-Pagès

  3. LEMAR, UMR 6539 UBO/CNRS/IRD, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Place Nicolas Copernic, 29280, Plouzané, France

    J. F. Maguer

  4. School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    M. Hoogenboom

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  1. P. Tremblay
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  2. R. Grover
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  3. J. F. Maguer
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  4. M. Hoogenboom
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  5. C. Ferrier-Pagès
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Correspondence to P. Tremblay.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Anastazia Banaszak

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Tremblay, P., Grover, R., Maguer, J.F. et al. Carbon translocation from symbiont to host depends on irradiance and food availability in the tropical coral Stylophora pistillata . Coral Reefs 33, 1–13 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1100-7

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