Trophic ecology of shallow and deep reef-building corals

Abstract

Oceanic hydrodynamic mechanisms have a fundamental role in shaping coral reef ecosystems. Consequently, regional processes such as deep-water upwelling affect nutrient fluxes and the function of coral reefs at a local scale. Despite the importance of upwelling to marine ecosystems worldwide, there is limited knowledge about how this dynamic oceanographic process affects reef-building coral communities. Although depth is used to group different reef zones, the extent of nutrient fluxes across

Biogeochemical niches and trophic plasticity of shallow and mesophotic corals recovering from mass bleaching

“…Isotopic niche expansion occurred only in host P. speciosa while it maintained relatively higher mean δ 13 C (higher autotrophy), indicating new resource acquisition (heterotrophy) helped sustain autotrophy (Borell et al 2008; Tremblay et al 2016) but confirmatory studies of heterotrophic plasticity are needed for this species (Stafford‐Smith and Ormond 1992). Conversely, there was no change in the isotopic niche sizes of G. fascicularis and P. verrucosa hosts, which mixing models estimated to be more heterotrophic (Radice 2019), suggesting that these species maintained a similar trophic strategy pre‐ and post‐bleaching event. Decreased δ 13 C and increased δ 15 N of shallow host G. fascicularis was consistent with enhanced heterotrophic feeding under thermal stress (Borell et al 2008; Ferrier‐Pagès et al 2010; Hoogenboom et al 2015).…”