Productivity and carbon fluxes depend on species and symbiont density in soft coral symbioses.

ABSTRACT: Soft corals often constitute one of the major benthic groups of coral reefs. Although they have been documented to outcompete reef-building corals following environmental disturbances, their physiological performance and thus their functional importance in reefs are still poorly understood. In particular, the acclimatization to depth of soft corals harboring dinoflagellate symbionts and the metabolic interactions between these two partners have received little attention. We performed stable isotope tracer experiments on two soft coral species (Litophyton sp. and Rhytisma fulvum fulvum) from shallow and upper mesophotic Red Sea coral reefs to quantify the acquisition and allocation of autotrophic carbon within the symbiotic association. Carbon acquisition and respiration measurements distin

SUBMITTER: Pupier CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6882883 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature