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Exposure to solar radiation increases damage to both host tissues and algal symbionts of corals during thermal stress

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Abstract

Elevated seawater temperatures have long been accepted as the principal stressor causing the loss of symbiotic algae in corals and other invertebrates with algal symbionts (i.e., “bleaching”). A secondary factor associated with coral bleaching is solar irradiance, both its visible (PAR: 400–700 nm) and ultraviolet (UVR: 290–400 nm) portions of the spectrum. Here we examined the synergistic role of solar radiation on thermally induced stress and subsequent bleaching in a common Caribbean coral, Montastraea faveolata. Active fluorescent measurements show that steady-state quantum yields of photosystem II (PSII) fluorescence in the zooxanthellae are markedly depressed when exposed to high solar radiation and elevated temperatures, and the concentration of D1 protein is significantly lower in high light when compared to low light treatments under the same thermal stress. Both photosynthetic pigments and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are also depressed after experimental exposure to high solar radiation and thermal stress. Host DNA damage is exacerbated under high light conditions and is correlated with the expression of the cell cycle gene p 53, a cellular gatekeeper that modulates the fate of damaged cells between DNA repair processes and apoptotic pathways. These markers of cellular stress in the host and zooxanthellae have in common their response to the enhanced production of reactive oxygen species during exposure to high irradiances of solar radiation and elevated temperatures. Taking these results and previously published data into consideration, we conclude that thermal stress during exposure to high irradiances of solar radiation, or irradiances higher than the current photoacclimatization state, causes damage to both photochemistry and carbon fixation at the same time in zooxanthellae, while DNA damage, apoptosis, or necrosis are occurring in the host tissues of symbiotic cnidarians.

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Abbreviations

σPSII :

Functional absorption cross-section for PSII

Fo, Fm :

Minimum and maximum yields of chlorophyll a fluorescence measured after dark acclimation (relative units)

Fv :

Variable fluorescence after dark acclimation (=Fm−Fo), dimensionless

Fv/Fm :

Maximum quantum yield of photochemistry in PSII measured after dark acclimation, dimensionless

F′, Fm′:

Steady-state and maximum yields of chlorophyll a fluorescence measured under ambient light (relative units)

ΔF/Fm′:

Quantum yield of photochemistry in PSII measured at steady state under ambient light

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded in part by a grant from the NOAA National Undersea Research Program through the Caribbean Marine Research Center at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies. Support was also provided by the Office of Naval Research-Environmental Optics Program under Grant # 97PR00617–00 to MPL. I would like to thank the staff of Caribbean Marine Research Center at Lee Stocking Island for providing the field temperature data and excellent support during this work. I would like to thank Dr. Kozi Asada for the Cu/Zn SOD antibody and Dr. Toshio Mori for the CPD antibody. I would also like to thank Dr. Max Gorbunov for making the fast repetition rate fluorometer available for this work, and Drs. Chris Neefus and Geoff Trussell for assistance on the statistical analysis of the fluorescence data. The experiments conducted for this study comply with the current laws of the Bahamas and the United States of America.

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  1. Department of Zoology and Center for Marine Biology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Michael P. Lesser & Julianne H. Farrell

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  1. Michael P. Lesser
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  2. Julianne H. Farrell
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Correspondence to Michael P. Lesser.

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Communicated by R.C. Carpenter

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Lesser, M.P., Farrell, J.H. Exposure to solar radiation increases damage to both host tissues and algal symbionts of corals during thermal stress. Coral Reefs 23, 367–377 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-004-0392-z

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