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MEPS 238:81-89 (2002)
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Abstract
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Effect of feeding on the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition in the tissues and skeleton of the zooxanthellate coral Stylophora pistillata
S. Reynaud1,*, C. Ferrier-Pagès1, R. Sambrotto2, A. Juillet-Leclerc3, J. Jaubert1, J.-P. Gattuso4
1Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Avenue Saint Martin, 98000 Principality of Monaco
2Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Rt. 9W/PO Box 1000, Palisades, New York 10964, USA
3Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Laboratoire mixte CNRS-CEA, 91180 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
4Observatoire Océanologique, Laboratoire d'Océanographie, CNRS-UPMC, BP 28, 06234 Villefranche-sur-mer Cedex, France
*E-mail: sreynaud@centrescientifique.mc
ABSTRACT: The effect of feeding on the carbon isotopic composition of zooxanthellae, animal tissue and skeleton was investigated in the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata. Two sets of corals were grown with filtered seawater under controlled
conditions. One group of colonies was fed Artemia sp. nauplii and compared to a control group that was starved. Fed corals exhibited higher concentrations of chlorophyll (60% more), soluble protein (4 times more) and calcification rates (29% more)
than starved colonies. The net photosynthetic rate was higher in starved than in fed corals (18.53 ± 6.99 and 6.78 ± 2.06 µmolO2 cm-2 h-1 respectively), whereas dark respiration was not significantly different (8.74 ±
2.27 and 6.66 ± 0.40 µmolO2 cm-2 h-1). The average d13C value of Artemia sp. nauplii used for feeding was -12‰. d13C was
significantly heavier in zooxanthellae than in animal tissues, for both fed (-10.1 vs -11.7‰) and starved colonies (-10.9 vs -13.2‰). Artemia sp. carbon was incorporated into the coral tissue as shown by the heavier d13C in fed than in starved colonies (-11.7 to -13.2‰, respectively), although there was no difference in the d13C of the zooxanthellae fraction. Skeletal d13C was similar in fed and starved colonies (mean -4.6‰). Skeletal d18O composition was, however, significantly different between the 2 treatments (-4.24 to -4.05‰ for fed
and starved colonies, respectively), which may have been due to differences in the calcification rates of fed and starved corals. These data are used to establish a conceptual model of the carbon flow between the various compartments of a symbiotic coral.
It suggests that the skeletal d13C is not sensitive to heterotrophic food supply.
KEY WORDS: Coral · Carbon · Oxygen · Isotopic composition · Feeding · Primary production · Respiration · Calcification
Full text in pdf format
Published in MEPS Vol.
238
(2002) on August 8
Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2002
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