Food Preferences of Mediterranean Cold-Water Corals in Captivity

Ros, Zaira Da; Dell’Anno, Antonio; Fanelli, Emanuela; Angeletti, Lorenzo; Taviani, Marco; Danovaro, Roberto

doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.867656

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 99 publications

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“…Additional evidence from lipid biomarkers corroborates the assertion that deep-dwelling CWC species such Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata feed predominantly on metazoan zooplankton (Dodds et al, 2009;Kiriakoulakis et al, 2005;Naumann et al 2015). Deep-dwelling CWCs (Desmophylum pertusum, Madrepora oculata, Dendrophyllia cornigera) also exhibit prey preference for larger zooplankton (Da Ros et al 2022), suggesting that zooplankton prey are an essential component of their diet. Indeed, an exclusive diet of phytodetritus did not satisfy the fatty acid requirements of Lophelia pertusa, requiring supplementation with metazoan zooplankton to achieve maximum growth (Maier et al, 2019).…”

Section: Components Of Cwc Dietssupporting

confidence: 68%

Zooplankton as the primary diet for cold-water scleractinian corals (CWCs): implications for the CWC marine N cycle proxy and trophic ecology

Mottram,

Gothmann,

Prokopenko

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. The nitrogen (N) isotope composition (δ15N) of cold-water corals is a promising proxy for reconstructing past ocean N cycling, as a strong correlation was found between the δ15N of the organic nitrogen preserved in coral skeletons and the δ15N of sinking particulate organic matter exported from the surface ocean. However, a large offset of 8–9 ‰ between the δ15N recorded by the coral and that of export remains unexplained. The 8–9 ‰ offset may signal a potential sensitivity of the proxy to food web structure, an unusual large trophic isotope effect or a biosynthetic δ15N offset between the coral’s soft tissue and skeletal tissues, or some combinations of these factors. To understand the origin of the offset and further validate the proxy, we investigated the trophic ecology of the scleractinan cold water coral Balanophyllia elegans. A long-term incubation experiment of B. elegans fed on an isotopically controlled diet yielded a canonical trophic isotope effect of 3.0 ± 0.1 ‰ between coral soft tissue and the Artemia prey. The trophic isotope effect was not detectably influenced by sustained food limitation. A long N turnover of coral soft tissue of 291 ± 15 days in the well-fed incubations indicates that the coral skeleton is not apt to record seasonal difference in diet δ15N. Specimens of B. elegans from the shallow subtidal zone near San Juan Channel (WA, USA) revealed a modest difference between soft and skeletal tissue δ15N of 1.2 ± 0.6 ‰. The δ15N of the coral soft tissue was 12.0 ± 0.6 ‰, which was ~6 ‰ higher than that of suspended organic material that was comprised dominantly of phytoplankton – suggesting that the latter is not the primary component of B. elegans’ diet. An analysis of size-fractionated net tow material suggests that B. elegans fed predominantly on a size class of zooplankton ≥ 500 µm, implicating a two-level trophic transfer between phytoplankton material and coral tissue. These results portend a sensitivity of cold-water coral δ15N to regional food web structure that must be heeded in paleoceanographic studies of ocean N cycling.

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Section: Components Of Cwc Dietssupporting

confidence: 68%

Zooplankton as the primary diet for cold-water scleractinian corals (CWCs): implications for the CWC marine N cycle proxy and trophic ecology

Mottram,

Gothmann,

Prokopenko

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Quantifying the δ¹⁵N trophic offset in a cold-water scleractinian coral (CWC): implications for the CWC diet and coral δ¹⁵N as a marine N cycle proxy

Mottram,

Gothmann,

Prokopenko

et al. 2024

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. The nitrogen (N) isotope composition (δ15N) of cold-water corals is a promising proxy for reconstructing past ocean N cycling, as a strong correlation was found between the δ15N of the organic nitrogen preserved in coral skeletons and the δ15N of particulate organic matter exported from the surface ocean. However, a large offset of 8 ‰–9 ‰ between the δ15N recorded by the coral and that of exported particulate organic matter remains unexplained. The 8 ‰–9 ‰ offset may signal a higher trophic level of coral dietary sources, an unusually large trophic isotope effect or a biosynthetic δ15N offset between the coral's soft tissue and skeletal organic matter, or some combinations of these factors. To understand the origin of the offset and further validate the proxy, we investigated the trophic ecology of the asymbiotic scleractinian cold-water coral Balanophyllia elegans, both in a laboratory setting and in its natural habitat. A long-term incubation experiment of B. elegans fed on an isotopically controlled diet yielded a canonical trophic isotope effect of 3.0 ± 0.1 ‰ between coral soft tissue and the Artemia prey. The trophic isotope effect was not detectably influenced by sustained food limitation. A long N turnover of coral soft tissue, expressed as an e-folding time, of 291 ± 15 d in the well-fed incubations indicates that coral skeleton δ15N is not likely to track subannual (e.g., seasonal) variability in diet δ15N. Specimens of B. elegans from the subtidal zone near San Juan Channel (WA, USA) revealed a modest difference of 1.2 ± 0.6 ‰ between soft tissue and skeletal δ15N. The δ15N of the coral soft tissue was 12.0 ± 0.6 ‰, which was ∼6 ‰ higher than that of suspended organic material that was comprised dominantly of phytoplankton – suggesting that phytoplankton is not the primary component of B. elegans' diet. An analysis of size-fractionated net tow material suggests that B. elegans fed predominantly on a size class of zooplankton ≥500 µm, implicating a two-level trophic transfer between phytoplankton material and coral tissue. These results point to a feeding strategy that may result in an influence of the regional food web structure on the cold-water coral δ15N. This factor should be taken into consideration when applying the proxy to paleo-oceanographic studies of ocean N cycling.

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Food Preferences of Mediterranean Cold-Water Corals in Captivity

Cited by 2 publications

References 99 publications

Zooplankton as the primary diet for cold-water scleractinian corals (CWCs): implications for the CWC marine N cycle proxy and trophic ecology

Zooplankton as the primary diet for cold-water scleractinian corals (CWCs): implications for the CWC marine N cycle proxy and trophic ecology

Quantifying the δ¹⁵N trophic offset in a cold-water scleractinian coral (CWC): implications for the CWC diet and coral δ¹⁵N as a marine N cycle proxy

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Food Preferences of Mediterranean Cold-Water Corals in Captivity

Cited by 2 publications

References 99 publications

Zooplankton as the primary diet for cold-water scleractinian corals (CWCs): implications for the CWC marine N cycle proxy and trophic ecology

Zooplankton as the primary diet for cold-water scleractinian corals (CWCs): implications for the CWC marine N cycle proxy and trophic ecology

Quantifying the δ15N trophic offset in a cold-water scleractinian coral (CWC): implications for the CWC diet and coral δ15N as a marine N cycle proxy

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Quantifying the δ¹⁵N trophic offset in a cold-water scleractinian coral (CWC): implications for the CWC diet and coral δ¹⁵N as a marine N cycle proxy