Continuing Abstracts
Coral Health and Monitoring Program
coral at coral.AOML.ERL.GOV
Tue Jul 4 16:24:35 EDT 1995
As part of our continuing effort to distribute information regarding
coral health and monitoring, we are circulating the following two
abstracts:
Abdel-Salam,-H.; Porter,-J.W.; Hatcher,-B.G. Physiological
effects of sediment rejection on photosynthesis and
respiration in three Caribbean reef corals.
PROCEEDINGS-OF-THE-SIXTH-INTERNATIONAL-CORAL-REEF-
SYMPOSIUM,-TOWNSVILLE,-AUSTRALIA,-8th-12th-AUGUST-1988.-
VOLUME-2:-CONTRIBUTED-PAPERS-MINI-SYMPOSIUM-1-TO-10-14.
Choat,-J.H.;Barnes,-D.;Borowitzka,-M.A.;Coll,-
J.C.;Davies,-P.J.;Floor,-P.;et-al.-eds.. 1988. pp. 285-
292.
Three species of corals, Acropora palmata, Diploria strigosa,
and Montastrea annularis , were exposed to the same weight of
sediment. Corals were exposed to sediment during day light
and darkness. Oxygen production and consumption were measured
by respirometry; sediment removed by corals was collected
simultaneously. All corals exposed to sediments showed an
increase in respiration rate at night and a decrease in net
photosynthesis during the day. Lowered net photosynthesis was
due to both light shading and respiratory increase.
Integrated 24 hour P/R ratios for control and sediment-
exposed corals were calculated. All control corals had
naturally occurring P/R ratios in excess of 1.0, but the
sediment treated corals, without exception, had ratios
significantly below 1.0, mostly due to high respiration
during sediment rejection. M. annularis and D. strigosa
have very high clearing rates relative to A. palmata .
=============================================================
Acevedo,-R.; Morelock,-J. Effects of terrigenous sediment
influx on coral reef zonation in southwestern Puerto
Rico. PROCEEDINGS-OF-THE-SIXTH-INTERNATIONAL-CORAL-
REEF-SYMPOSIUM,-TOWNSVILLE,-AUSTRALIA,-8th-12th-AUGUST-
1988.-VOLUME-2:-CONTRIBUTED-PAPERS-MINI-SYMPOSIUM-1-TO-
10-14. Choat,-J.H.;Barnes,-D.;Borowitzka,-M.A.;Coll,-
J.C.;Davies,-P.J.;Flood,-P.;Hatcher,-B.G.;et-al.-eds..
1988. pp. 189-194.
The distribution of hermatypic coral species and species
dominance patterns is discussed from the study of 8 reef
sites of southwestern Puerto Rico. Photo-transects were
surveyed on 4 sites at La Parguera where terrigenous sediment
influx was absent and used to develop a standard coral
zonation pattern. Four sites were studied at Ponce where the
presence of terrigenous sediments was observed and results
compared between sites for each depth level. Coral cover and
species diversity was greatly reduced near the source of
terrigenous sediment. Both coral cover and coral species
diversity increased with distance from the sediment source.
Loss of light is critical to the deeper coral assemblages,
and a chronic increase in turbidity will move the lower limit
of coral growth to much shallower depths. Other possible
effects from sediment influx commonly observed were: partial
or total burial of coral colonies, bleaching and colonization
of the coral surface by filamentous blue-green algae.
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| |
| Coral Health and Monitoring Program |
| Ocean Chemistry Division |
| Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorlogical Laboratories |
| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| Miami, Florida |
| USA |
| |
| Email: coral at coral.aoml.erl.gov |
| World-Wide Web: http://coral.aoml.erl.gov |
| |
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