Preferences of planktotrophic larvae of the tropical serpulid Spirobranchus giganteus (Pallas) for exudates of corals from a Barbados reef

Marsden, Joan R.; Meeuwig, Jessica J.

doi:10.1016/0022-0981(90)90063-i

Cited by 19 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Coral mucus represents a food source for reef zooplankton (Richman et al 1975, Gottfried 1983, Marsden & Meeuwig 1990, crabs (Rinkevich et al 1991, Stachowicz & Hay 1999, shrimps (Daumas et al 1982, Patton 1994, bivalves (Shafir & Loya 1983), fish (Johannes 1967, Benson & Muscatine 1974, Gorgonian soft corals (Coffroth 1984), and even brittle stars (Grange 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation and mineralization of coral mucus in reef environments

Wild¹,

Rasheed²,

Ulrich³

et al. 2004

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

149

106

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With in situ and laboratory chamber incubations we demonstrate that coral mucus, an important component of particulate organic matter in reef ecosystems, is a valuable substrate for microbial communities in the water column and sandy sediments of coral reefs. The addition of coral mucus to the water of benthic chambers placed on lagoon sands in the coral cay Heron Island, Australia, resulted in a rapid and significant increase in both O 2 consumption and DIC production in the chambers. The permeable coral sands permitted the transport of mucus into the sediment with interfacial water flows, resulting in the mucus being mainly (> 90%) degraded in the sediment and not in the water column of the chambers. A low ratio of 0.48 (in situ) to 0.64 (laboratory) for O 2 consumption/DIC production after the addition of coral mucus, and high sulfate reduction rates (SRR) in natural sediments which were exposed to coral mucus, suggest a large contribution of anaerobic processes to the degradation of coral mucus. Oxygen penetrated less than 5 mm deep into these sediments. The microbial reaction to mucus addition was rapid, with a calculated in situ C turnover rate ranging from 7 to 18% h -1 . The degradation of coral mucus showed a dependency on the permeability of the carbonate sediments, with faster degradation and remineralization in coarse sands. This indicates the importance of permeable reef sediments for the trapping and degradation of organic matter. We suggest that coral mucus may have a function as a carrier of energy to the benthic microbial consumers.KEY WORDS: Coral mucus · POM · Degradation · Permeable carbonate sands · O 2 consumption · DIC production · C turnover Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation and mineralization of coral mucus in reef environments

Wild¹,

Rasheed²,

Ulrich³

et al. 2004

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

149

106

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“…In nature, settlement and initial tube formation of Spirobranchus are believed to occur on coral rock at the edges of living colonies (Smith, 1985). As Spirobranchus begins to grow, its tube extends onto the living coral and becomes the support for the adult polychaete (Marsden and Meeuwig, 1990). This is in contrast to the situation observed on South Africa's coral reefs, where the majority of Spirobranchus inhabited Acropora plates that were elevated above the reef, making it impossible for juveniles to settle first onto rock and then extend their burrows onto the coral colony.…”

Section: Spirobranchus Host Preferencementioning

confidence: 84%

“…Densities of Spirobranchus vary on different coral species Marsden and Meeuwig, 1990;Dai and Yang, 1995). In this study, densities of Spirobranchus were often extremely high on its preferred host coral compared with those in other reports.…”

Section: Spirobranchus Densities and Abundancementioning

confidence: 98%

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Polychaete (Spirobranchus giganteus) loading on South African corals

Floros

Samways

Armstrong³

2005

Aquatic Conservation

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ABSTRACT1. Spirobranchus giganteus is a ubiquitous serpulid polychaete that is an obligate associate of living coral. At Sodwana Bay, South Africa, it is a conspicuous associate of Acropora clathrata plates.2. This study explores the relationship between S. giganteus abundance and factors hypothesized to represent stress to the corals, in particular coral bleaching, diving intensity and exposure to destructive wave action as a function of depth. In addition, plate size was investigated to increase understanding of habitat selection by S. giganteus.3. There was no significant correlation between diving intensity and S. giganteus abundance on the three reefs studied, suggesting either that the current level of diving intensity causes no stress or that S. giganteus does not indicate stress.4. Depth influenced the size distribution of A. clathrata plates, with the larger plates being at greatest depths (>0.4 m 2 at depths >14 m). Extremely high S. giganteus densities (most plates with number of individuals >50 m À2; maximum number of individuals 413.63 m À2 at 9 m depth on one reef) were recorded at depths >14 m, with density increasing overall with depth.6. The high densities of S. giganteus on A. clathrata plates are possibly because the plates are a physically elevated platform above the reef, where factors such as predation, competition and smothering by sand are far less important than on the reef surface. In turn, upwelling of nutrients and dependent plankton may encourage S. giganteus to maintain high population levels.7. Climatic or other stresses are not considered currently to be responsible for these high S. giganteus densities. Rather, the worm data reflect a healthy upwelling, which may change as the coral reef becomes stressed with global climate change.

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“…Recognized as a major contributor of newly produced Nitrogen into the oceans, shallow coral reefs habitat are aids a huge fraction of total benthic N 2 fixation to a global scale [55,62,80]. These array of micro-organism was measured from various reef surface including carbonate sediments, [7,82], algal dominated reef crest, [29,48,49], mucus and tissue of living corals [44], coral rubbles and coral skeleton [48,49,82].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of the Coral Associated Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria Toward Elevated Water Temperature

Diaz¹

2017

WROS

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Abstract:Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse and economically important ecosystem on the planet. Despite the importance, reef habitat is being under threat from human exploitation, and its most serious stressor is increasing seawater temperature, an aftermath of global warming phenomenon. The increasing seawater temperature causes bleaching, diseases and insufficiency of nutrients of corals. Despite being surrounded by ocean waters were nutrient are in short supply, the reef ecosystem is a significant source of new nitrogen. Biological nitrogen fixation is a significant internal source of marine organism. The growth of all organism lies on the availability of mineral nutrients particularly of nitrogen (N 2 ). Approximately 80% of atmosphere is made of nitrogen, however, N 2 can only be available for use by organism unless it undergoes a process of nitrogen fixation. In this aspect, related literature on biological nitrogen fixation seems sparse especially on the effects of increasing seawater temperature, a well-known contributing factor of coral bleaching. In this study, an investigation was conducted on nitrogen fixing bacterial communities associated in the coral Acropora digitifera, exploring its responses towards elevated water temperature. The study shows that exposure to high temperature causes a drastic change in the community of nitrogen fixing bacteria which are abundant in coral mucus. These changes, is correlated with the shift in the metabolic function in coral holobiont, thus, affecting both health and resiliency of corals. Overall, the finding highlights the impact of elevated seawater temperature on the nitrogen fixing bacterial composition and its diversity as well as its effects of this on host metabolism.

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Preferences of planktotrophic larvae of the tropical serpulid Spirobranchus giganteus (Pallas) for exudates of corals from a Barbados reef

Cited by 19 publications

References 27 publications

Degradation and mineralization of coral mucus in reef environments

Degradation and mineralization of coral mucus in reef environments

Polychaete (Spirobranchus giganteus) loading on South African corals

Response of the Coral Associated Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria Toward Elevated Water Temperature

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