Authors: Or BenZvi Gal Eyal Yossi Loya
Publish Date: 2014/11/25
Volume: 759, Issue: 1, Pages: 15-26
Abstract
Light in the sea is one of the major factors influencing corals with changes in light being rapid along the depth gradient Those changes can be a potential stress factor for coralreef organisms and affect different aspects of the coral’s physiology including its fluorescence Fluorescence is a physical phenomenon comprising the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light with a different wavelength Major hypotheses concerning the role of coral fluorescence include that of photoprotection and the facilitation of photosynthesis We sought to further investigate some ecophysiological aspects of coral fluorescence We focused on the effect of different light conditions on fluorescence of the coral Galaxea fascicularis and used photography confocal microscopy and spectral measurements to assess changes in its fluorescence We show that fluorescence is significantly influenced by light and therefore by depth Coral fluorescence increased with the increase in light intensity and when the spectrum of light was broader Hence we support the “sunscreen” hypothesis and conclude that fluorescence plays a role in the coral’s defense mechanism against harmful radiation However multiple fluorescent proteins as found in different locations of the coral tissue might suggest more than one functional role of fluorescence in the coral’s physiologyWe would like to thank the staff of The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat IUI for making the facilities of the lab available to us We are grateful to Nadav Shashar and Amit Lerner for their help with the spectral measurements Maoz Fine for his help with the coral physiology tests Ofri Mann for his help with the statistical analysis Naomi Paz for the proofreading and all of YL’s lab members for their support in the various tasks of this study This research was partially funded by the Israel Science Foundation ISF grant No 341/12 and USAID/MERC grant No M32037 to YL
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