The effect of small-scale morphology on thermal dynamics in coral microenvironments

Ong, Robert H.; King, Andrew; Mullins, Benjamin J.; Caley, M. Julian

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2019.102433

Cited by 3 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Several studies have also modeled the interaction of light and fluid flow with colony morphology and the resulting surface temperature Ong et al, 2018;Ong et al, 2017;Ong et al, 2019) and mass transfer at the coral surface (Chang et al, 2014;Shapiro et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the radiative, thermal and chemical microenvironment of 3D scanned corals

Murthy

Picioreanu

Kühl

2023

Preprint

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1: Reef building corals are efficient biological collectors of solar radiation and consist of a thin stratified tissue layer spread over a light scattering calcium carbonate skeleton surface that together construct complex three dimensional (3D) colony structures forming the foundation of coral reefs. They exhibit a vast diversity of structural forms to maximize photosynthesis of their dinoflagellate endosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae), while simultaneously minimizing photodamage. The symbiosis takes place in the presence of dynamic gradients of light, temperature and chemical species that are affected by the interaction of incident irradiance and water flow with the coral colony. 2: We developed a multiphysics modelling approach to simulate microscale spatial distribution of light, temperature and O2 in coral fragments with accurate morphology determined by 3D scanning techniques. 3: Model results compared well with spatial measurements of light, O2 and temperature under similar flow and light conditions. The model enabled us to infer the effect of coral morphology and light scattering in tissue and skeleton on the internal light environment experienced by the endosymbionts, as well as the combined contribution of light, water flow and ciliary movement on O2 and temperature distributions in the coral. 4: The multiphysics modeling approach is general enough to enable simulation of external and internal light, O2 and temperature microenvironments in 3D scanned coral species with varying degrees of branching and morphology under different environmental conditions. This approach is also relevant for simulating structure-function relationships in other benthic systems such as photosynthetic biofilms and aquatic plant tissue, and can also be adapted to other sessile organisms such as symbiont-bearing giant clams, ascidians, jellyfish or foraminifera. The model could also be useful in more applied research such as optimization of 3D bioprinted constructs where different designs can be evaluated and optimized.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the radiative, thermal and chemical microenvironment of 3D scanned corals

Murthy

Picioreanu

Kühl

2023

Preprint

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“…In a real-world scenario, temperature dynamics on coral reefs can certainly be more variable in time and space, e.g. because of weather and seasons, tidal currents, wave actions and interactions of turbulent flow with the 3D topography of corals [32][33][34][35][36]. However, a detailed discussion of such interactions is beyond the scope of this study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the implementation of a 2D slab geometry in our coral model could be used to verify basic mechanisms affecting the physico-chemical microenvironment in corals by comparing model outputs with published experimental data from flow chamber studies, it does certainly not capture every component of coral optics and biology because of the strong simplification of geometry and the hydrodynamic regime. For example, in a more complex (3D) model, differences in coral morphology could be included that have an impact on the water flow and on the temperature of corals [9,32]. Furthermore, the underlying seabed could be included in the coral optics, since it can contribute by over 20% to the total scalar irradiance at the coral tissue surface in shallow waters [37].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[79]); at a larger colony scale, the complex interaction of turbulent flow with 3D coral morphology leads to a heterogeneous distribution of temperature and O 2 (e.g. [32,80]). Additionally, photon transfer is affected by coral topography, where, for example, skeleton morphology and optical properties can affect the distribution of light within the coral colony [28,31,60,81].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The interaction of corals with water flow and irradiance and the resulting thermal microenvironments of corals over complex colony morphologies have been explored by, for example, Ong et al [29][30][31][32], who employed three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics modelling in combination with optical ray tracing for a range of coral colony morphologies. Several other studies have focused on the impact of complex coral morphology and flow patterns on heat and mass transfer at the coral surface, where the roughness of the coral surface played a large role [33][34][35][36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiphysics modelling of photon, mass and heat transfer in coral microenvironments

Parkins

Murthy

Picioreanu

et al. 2021

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Coral reefs are constructed by calcifying coral animals that engage in a symbiosis with dinoflagellate microalgae harboured in their tissue. The symbiosis takes place in the presence of steep and dynamic gradients of light, temperature and chemical species that are affected by the structural and optical properties of the coral and their interaction with incident irradiance and water flow. Microenvironmental analyses have enabled quantification of such gradients and bulk coral tissue and skeleton optical properties, but the multi-layered nature of corals and its implications for the optical, thermal and chemical microenvironment remains to be studied in more detail. Here, we present a multiphysics modelling approach, where three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of the light field in a simple coral slab morphology with multiple tissue layers were used as input for modelling the heat dissipation and photosynthetic oxygen production driven by photon absorption. By coupling photon, heat and mass transfer, the model predicts light, temperature and O 2 gradients in the coral tissue and skeleton, under environmental conditions simulating, for example, tissue contraction/expansion, symbiont loss via coral bleaching or different distributions of coral host pigments. The model reveals basic structure–function mechanisms that shape the microenvironment and ecophysiology of the coral symbiosis in response to environmental change.

show abstract

Modeling the radiative, thermal and chemical microenvironment of 3D scanned corals

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reef building corals are efficient biological collectors of solar radiation and consist of a thin stratified tissue layer spread over a light scattering calcium carbonate skeleton surface that together construct complex three dimensional (3D) colony structures forming the foundation of coral reefs. They exhibit a vast diversity of structural forms to maximize photosynthesis of their dinoflagellate endosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae), while simultaneously minimizing photodamage, offer resistance to hydrodynamic stress, reduce attack by predators and increase prey capture and heterotrophic feeding. The symbiosis takes place in the presence of dynamic gradients of light, temperature and chemical species that are affected by the interaction of incident irradiance and water flow with the coral colony. We developed a multiphysics modelling approach to simulate the microscale spatial distribution of light, temperature and O2 in a coral fragment with its morphology determined by 3D scanning techniques. Model results compared well with spatial measurements of light, O2 and temperature under similar flow and light conditions. The model enabled us to infer the effect of coral morphology and light scattering in tissue and skeleton on the internal light environment experienced by the endosymbionts, as well as the combined contribution of light, water flow and ciliary movement on O2 and temperature distributions in the coral.

show abstract

The effect of small-scale morphology on thermal dynamics in coral microenvironments

Cited by 3 publications

References 29 publications

Modeling the radiative, thermal and chemical microenvironment of 3D scanned corals

Modeling the radiative, thermal and chemical microenvironment of 3D scanned corals

Multiphysics modelling of photon, mass and heat transfer in coral microenvironments

Modeling the radiative, thermal and chemical microenvironment of 3D scanned corals

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