Abstract
The ability of endosymbioses between anthozoans and dinoflagellate algae (zooxanthellae) to retain excretory nitrogen and take up ammonium from seawater has been well documented. However, the quantitative importance of these processes to the nitrogen budget of such symbioses is poorly understood. When starved symbiotic Anemonia viridis were incubated in a flow-through system in seawater supplemented with 20 μM ammonium for 91 d under a light regime of 12 h light at 150 μmol photons m−2 s−1 and 12 h darkness, they showed a mean net growth of 0.197% of their initial weight per day. Control anemones in unsupplemented seawater with an ammonium concentration of <1 μM lost weight by a mean of 0.263% of their initial weight per day. Attempts to construct a nitrogen budget showed that, over a 14 d period, ≃40% of the ammonium taken up could be accounted for by growth of zooxanthellae. It was assumed that the remainder was translocated from zooxanthellae to host. However, since the budget does not balance, only 60% of the growth of host tissue was accounted for by this translocation. The value for host excretory nitrogen which was recycled to the symbionts equalled that taken in by ammonium uptake from the supplemented seawater, indicating the importance of nitrogen retention to the symbiotic association.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 23 December 1997 / Accepted: 12 September 1998
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roberts, J., Davies, P. & Fixter, L. Symbiotic anemones can grow when starved: nitrogen budget for Anemonia viridis in ammonium-supplemented seawater. Marine Biology 133, 29–35 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002270050439
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002270050439