Abstract
An energy budget was determined for the coral Porites porites living in a stressed environment for comparison of the energy inputs and expenditure with those of the same species living in an adjacent clear water fore reef environment. The stressed site was characterised by higher sedimentation and lower irradiances than at the fore reef site. Zooplankton ingestion was found to be an insignificant component of the energy intake: the coral is fully autotrophic under stress conditions. The integrated 24 h rate of photosynthetic energy production on a clear sunny day was 20% higher for stressed corals compared to fore reef corals. This was largely the result of photoadaptation which resulted in increased values for α and decreased values for Ik in the hyperbolic tangent function equation for the photosynthesis versus irradiance curve. The energy investment in growth of animal tissue was lower in stressed corals. The percentage translocation of photosynthase to the animal tissue remained at about 78%, but the respiration rate of the animal tissue was reduced by 3 fold. These data combined with the high rate of photosynthetic production predict a net daily energy surplus of 67% in stressed corals compared with the 45% surplus in unstressed corals. Scope for growth is reduced under stress conditions.
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Edmunds, P.J., Davies, P.S. An energy budget for Porites porites (Scleractinia), growing in a stressed environment. Coral Reefs 8, 37–43 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304690
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304690