Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of temperature and salinity on survival rate of cultured corals and photosynthetic efficiency of zooxanthellae in coral tissues

  • Article
  • Published:
Ocean Science Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of temperature and salinity on growth, survival, and photosynthetic efficiency of three coral species, namely, Pocillopora damicornis, Acropora millepora and Platygyra sinensis of different ages (6 and 18 months old). The experimental corals were cultivated via sexual propagation. Colonies were exposed to 5 different temperatures (18, 23, 28, 33, and 38°C) and 5 different salinities (22, 27, 32, 37, and 42 psu). Results showed that temperature significantly affected photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) (p < 0.05) compared to salinity. The maximum quantum yield of corals decreased ranging from 5% to 100% when these corals were exposed to different temperatures and salinities. Temperature also significantly affected coral growth and survival. However, corals exposed to changes in salinity showed higher survivorship than those exposed to changes in temperature. Results in this study also showed that corals of different ages and of different species did not display the same physiological responses to changes in environmental conditions. Thus, the ability of corals to tolerate salinity and temperature stresses depends on several factors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anthony KRN, Connolly SR, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2007) Bleaching, energetics and coral mortality risk: Effects of temperature, light, and sediment regime. Limnol Oceanogr 52:716–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baird AH, Hughes TP (2000) Competitive dominance by tabular corals: an experimental analysis of recruitment and survival of understorey assemblages. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 251:117–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beer S, Iian M, Eshel A, Weil A, Brickner I (1998) Use of pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry for in situ measurement of photosynthesis in two Red Sea faviid corals. Mar Biol 131:607–612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buddemeier RW, Fautin DG (1993) Coral bleaching as an adaptive mechanism: a testable hypothesis. BioScience 43:320–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coles SL, Jokiel PL (1978) Synergistic effects of temperature, salinity and light on the hermatypic coral Montipora verrucosa. Mar Biol 49:187–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavanich S, Viyakarn V, Loyjiw T, Pattaratamrong P, Chankong A (2009) Mass bleaching of soft coral, Sarcophyton spp. in Thailand and the role of temperature and salinity stress. ICES J Mar Sci 66:1515–1519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavanich S, Viyakarn V, Adams P, Klammer J, Cook N (2012) Reef communities after the 2010 mass coral bleaching at Racha Yai Island in the Andaman Sea and Koh Tao in the gulf of Thailand. Phuket Mar Biol Cent Res Bull 71:103–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Chow AM, Ferrier-Pagès C, Khalouei S, Reynaud S, Brown IR (2009) Increased light intensity induces heat shock protein Hsp60 in coral species. Cell Stress Chaperon 14:469–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies PS (1984) The role of zooxanthellae in the nutritional energy requirements of Pocillopora eydouxi. Coral Reefs 2:181–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson CH (1928) The ecology of an Hawaiian coral reef. Bull Bernice P Bishop Mus 45:1–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmunds PJ, Davies PS (1986) An energy budget for Porites porites (Scleractinia). Mar Biol 92:339–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabricius KE, Mieog JC, Colin PL, Idip D, van Oppen MJ (2004) Identity and diversity of coral endosymbionts (zooxanthellae) from three Palauan reefs with contrasting bleaching, temperature and shading histories. Mol Ecol 13:2445–2458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrier-Pagès C, Gattuso JP, Jaubert J (1999) Effect of small variations in salinity on the rates of photosynthesis and respiration of the zooxanthellate coral Stylopora pistillata. Mar Ecol-Prog Ser 181:309–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrier-Pagès C, Richard C, Forcioli D, Allemand D, Pichon M, Shick JM (2007) Effects of temperature and UV radiation increases on the photosynthetic efficiency in four scleractinian coral species. Biol Bull 213:76–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franklin DJ, Cedrès CMM, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2006) Increased mortality and photoinhibition in the symbiotic dinoflagellates of the Indo-Pacific coral Stylophora pistillata (Esper) after summer bleaching. Mar Biol 149:633–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frisch AJ, Ulstrup KE, Hobbs JP (2007) The effects of clove oil on coral: an experimental evaluation using Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 345:101–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoegh-Guldberg O (1999) Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world’s coral reefs. Mar Freshwater Res 50:839–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacques TG, Marshall N, Pilson MEQ (1983) Experimental ecology of the temperate scleractinian coral Astrangia danae II. Effects of temperature, light intensity and symbiosis with zooxanthellae on metabolic rate and calcification. Mar Biol 76:135–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jokiel PL, Coles SL. Gutther EB, Key GS, Smith SV, Townley SJ (1974) Final Report, EPA Project No. 18050 DDN

    Google Scholar 

  • Jokiel PL, Hunter CL, Taguchi S, Watarai L (1993) Ecological impact of a fresh-water “reef kill” in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. Coral Reefs 12:177–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohler KE, Gill SM (2006) Coral point count with excel extensions (CPCe): a visual basic program for the determination of coral and substrate coverage using random point count methodology. Comput Geosci 32:1259–1269. doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2005.11.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krause GH, Weis E (1991) Chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthesis: the basics. Annu Rev Plant Phys Plant Mol Biol 42:313–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesser MP (1996) Elevated temperatures and ultraviolet radiation cause oxidative stress and inhibit photosynthesis on symbiotic dinoflagellates. Limnol Oceanogr 41:271–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin C, Wang LH, Fan TY, Kuo FW (2012) Lipid content and composition during the oocyte development of two gorgonian coral species in relation to low temperature preservation. Plos One 7: e38689. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin C, Kuo FW, Chavanich S, Viyakarn V (2014) Membrane lipid phase transition behavior of oocytes from three gorgonian corals in relation to chilling injury. Plos One 9: e92812. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loya Y, Sakai K, Yamasato K, Nakano Y, Sambali H, van Woesik R (2001) Coral bleaching: the winners and the losers. Ecol Lett 4:122–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manzell D, Lirman D (2003) The photosynthetic resilience of Porites furcata to salinity disturbance. Coral reefs 22:537–540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall AT, Clode PL (2004) Calcification rate and the effect of temperature in a zooxanthellate and an azooxanthellate scleractinian reef coral. Coral Reefs 23:218–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthiga NA, Szmant AM (1987) The effects of salinity stress on the rates of aerobic respiration and photosynthesis in the hermatypic coral Siderastrea siderea. Biol Bull 173:539–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piniak GA, Storlazzi CD (2008) Diurnal variability in turbidity and coral fluorescence on a fringing reef flat: Southern Molokai, Hawaii. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 77:56–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter JW, Lewis SK, Porter KG (1999) The effect of multiple stressors on the Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem: a landscape hypothesis and a physiological test. Limnol Oceanogr 44:941–949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynaud S, Ferrier-Pagès C, Boisson F, Allemand D, Fairbanks RG (2004) Effect of light and temperature on calcification and strontium uptake in the scleractinian coral Acropora verweyi. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 279:105–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richmond RH (1993) Effects of coastal runoff on coral reproduction. In: Ginsburg RN (ed) Proc Coll Global Aspects of Coral Reefs: Health, Hazards, and History. Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, pp 360–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakai K, Snidvongs A, Nishihara M (1989) A mapping of a coralbased, non-reefal community at Khang Khao Island, inner part of the Gulf of Thailand: interspecific competition and community structure. Galaxea J Coral Reef Stud 8:185–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Schutter M, Kranenbarg S, Wijffels RH, Verreth J, Ronald Osinga R (2011) Modification of light utilization for skeletal growth by water flow in the scleractinian coral Galaxea fascicularis. Mar Biol 158:769–777. doi:10.1007/s00227-010-1605-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulstrup KE, Ralph PJ, Larkum AWD, Kühl M (2006) Intra-colonial variability in light acclimation of zooxanthellae in coral tissues of Pocillopora damicornis. Mar Biol 149:1325–1335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vernberg FJ, Vernberg WB (1972) Environmental physiology of marine animals. Springer Verlag, New York, 346 p

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Warner ME, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (1999) Damage to photosystem II in symbiotic dinoflagellates: a determinant of coral bleaching. P Natl Acad Sci USA 96:8007–8012

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reef Biology Research Group Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Patumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Pataporn Kuanui, Suchana Chavanich & Voranop Viyakarn

  2. Akajima Marine Science Laboratory, Aka, Zamami-Son, Okinawa, 901-3311, Japan

    Makoto Omori

  3. Graduate Institute of Marine Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Checheng, Pingtung, 944, Taiwan

    Chiahsin Lin

  4. National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, Checheng, Pingtung, 944, Taiwan

    Chiahsin Lin

Authors
  1. Pataporn Kuanui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Suchana Chavanich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Voranop Viyakarn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Makoto Omori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Chiahsin Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suchana Chavanich.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kuanui, P., Chavanich, S., Viyakarn, V. et al. Effects of temperature and salinity on survival rate of cultured corals and photosynthetic efficiency of zooxanthellae in coral tissues. Ocean Sci. J. 50, 263–268 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-015-0023-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-015-0023-3

Key words

Search

Navigation