PHOTOSYNTHESIS IN SOME ALCYONACEAN CORALS
1960; Wiley; Volume: 47; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1002/j.1537-2197.1960.tb07178.x
ISSN1537-2197
AutoresPaul R. Burkholder, Lillian M. Burkholder,
Tópico(s)Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
ResumoB urkholder , P aul R., and L illian M. B urkholder . (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, New York.) Photosynthesis in some Alcyonacean corals. Amer. Jour. Bot. 47(10) : 866–872. Illus. 1960.—Quantitative production of oxygen in bottles, and amounts of chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments were studied in selected species of Alcyonacean corals, the stony coral Porites, porites, and turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum, in Puerto Rico. Photosynthetic production exceeds the consumption of oxygen in combined respiration of the corals and their contained algal zooxanthellae, both in short‐term light experiments and over 24 hr. of natural, alternating day and night. Observations of oxygen production in 8 species of corals, exposed to full sunlight in 1 ft. of water, gave assimilation values of 0.9 mg. O 2 (equivalent to 0.27 mg. C fixed) per mg. chlorophyll a per hour. A maximum assimilation value of 1.56 was observed in Antillogorgia turgida . From data on the increased oxygen it was calculated that from 0.33 to 1.65 mg. residual fixed carbon per g. of fresh coral were accumulated in Porites porites and Antillogorgia turgida during a day and night period of 24 hr. Photosynthesis of turtle grass in the same environment was more than 3 times the rate of these corals. The zooxanthellae contain carotenoids in abundance, along with chlorophylls a and c. On a unit of chlorophyll a basis, the photosynthetic systems of corals appear to be less active in reduction of carbon dioxide in bottles than some other photosynthetic systems of the sea, such as turtle grass and phytoplankton observed under optimum conditions.
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