Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-b4m5d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-17T19:09:25.660Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Finding the winners in competition for substratum between coral polyps and epilithic algae on damaged colonies of the coral Porites lutea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2009

E.A. Titlyanov ,
T.V. Titlyanova  and
M. Arvedlund
E.A. Titlyanov
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 690041, Russia Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Sesoko Island, Okinawa 905-0227, Japan
T.V. Titlyanova
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 690041, Russia Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Sesoko Island, Okinawa 905-0227, Japan
M. Arvedlund*
Affiliation:
Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Sesoko Island, Okinawa 905-0227, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M. Arvedlund, Reef Consultants, Raadmand Steins Allé 16A, 208, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The study was conducted at the fringing reef of Sesoko Island (Okinawa, Japan), in the north-western Pacific. Artificial injuries were inflicted to the upper portions of colonies of the massive coral Porites lutea. The colonies were fixed to cement blocks and placed at two reef locations of different light intensity: one with moderate light (20–30% of incident photosynthetic active radiation, PAR0) and one with low light (2–5% PAR0). After six months of the treatment, all injuries were photographed. Analysis of photographs made under light and electron microscopes showed that the coral was able to recover from the injuries at both light variants. Under moderate light, some of the injuries completely healed and some injuries recovered partially. Under low light all injuries recovered partially. These partially recovered injuries were occupied by algae at dead portions of the injuries. In moderate light, coral polyps overgrew all algal settlers and were the winners in the competition for substratum. In low light, Peyssonnelia conchicola, Corallophila apiculata, Centroceras clavulatum, Anortichium tenue, and Lobophora variegata that colonized the injured areas overgrew coral polyps and were the winners in the competitive struggle for the substratum. It was shown that overgrowing is the main mechanism of coral–algal competition for substratum in light ranging from 2 to 30% PAR0. This mechanism of overgrowth of corals by algae, and the reverse, are discussed in detail.

Keywords

coral–algal competitionPorites luteadamaged coloniesscanning electron microscopypolyps' regeneration
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e85
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

3

Present address: Reef Consultants, Raadmand Steins Allé 16A, 208, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark

References

REFERENCES

Bak, R.P.M. and Steward-Van Es, Y. (1980) Regeneration of superficial damage in the scleractinian corals Agaricia agaricites f. purpurea and Porites astreoides. Bulletin of Marine Science 30, 883–887.Google Scholar
Bruckner, A.W. and Bruckner, N.J. (2001) Condition of restored Acropora palmata fragments off Mona Island, Puerto Rico, 2 years after the Fortuna Reefer ship grounding. Coral Reefs 20, 235–243.Google Scholar
Connell, J.H. (1997) Disturbance and recovery of coral assemblages. Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium 1, 9–22.Google Scholar
Diaz-Pulido, G. and McCook, L.J. (2002) The fate of bleached corals: patterns and dynamics of algal recruitment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 232, 115–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Done, T.J. (1992) Phase shifts in coral reef communities and their ecological significance. Hydrobiologia 24, 121–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, V.R. (1997) Interspecific differences in the regeneration of artificial injuries on scleractinian corals. Marine Ecology Progress Series 212, 9–23.Google Scholar
Hall, V.R. (2001) The response of Acropora hyacinthus and Montipora tuberculosa to three different types of colony damage: scraping injury, tissue mortality and breakage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 264, 209–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayatt, M.A. (2000) Principles and techniques of electron microscopy. Biological applications. 4th edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 543 pp.Google Scholar
Jompa, J. and McCook, L.J. (2002) The effects of nutrients and herbivory on competition between a hard coral (Porites cylindrica) and a brown alga (Lobophora variegata). Limnology and Oceanography 47, 527–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobayashi, A. (1984) Regeneration and regrowth of fragmented colonies of the hermatypic coral Acropora formosa and Acropora nasuta. Galaxea 291, 13–23.Google Scholar
Littler, M.M. and Littler, D.S. (1988) Structure and role of algae in tropical reef communities. In Lembi, C.A. and Waaland, J.R. (eds) Algae and human affairs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 30–56.Google Scholar
Marshall, P.A. (2000) Skeletal damage in reef corals: relating resistance to colony morphology. Marine Ecology Progress Series 200, 177–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCook, L.J., Jompa, J. and Diaz-Pulido, G. (2001) Competition between corals and algae on coral reefs: a review of evidence and mechanisms. Coral Reefs 19, 400–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meesters, E.H. and Bak, R.P.M. (1995) Age-related deterioration of a physiological function in the branching coral Acropora palmata. Marine Ecology Progress Series 121, 203–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meesters, E.H., Bos, A. and Gast, G.J. (1993) Effects of sedimentation and lesion position on coral tissue regeneration. Proceedings of the 7th International Coral Reef Symposium 2, 681–688.Google Scholar
Rinkevich, B. and Loya, Y. (1989) Reproduction in regenerating colonies of the coral Stylophora pistillata. In Spanier, E. et al. (eds) Environmental quality and ecosystem stability. Jerusalem, Israel: IVB, ISEEQS Publishers, pp. 259–265.Google Scholar
Titlyanov, E.A. and Latypov, Y.Y. (1991) Light-dependence in scleractinian distribution in the sublittoral zone of South China Sea Islands. Coral Reefs 10, 133–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titlyanov, E.A. and Titlyanova, T.V. (2002) Reef-building corals—symbiotic autotrophs. 2. Ways and mechanisms of adaptation to light. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 28, 319–333.Google Scholar
Titlyanov, E.A., Titlyanova, T.V. and Chapman, D.J. (2008) Dynamics and patterns of algal colonization on mechanically damaged and dead colonies of the coral Porites lutea. Botanica Marina 51, 285–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titlyanov, E.A., Titlyanova, T.V., Yakovleva, I.M., Nakano, Y. and Bhagooli, R. (2005) Regeneration of artificial injuries on scleractinian corals and coral/algal competition for newly formed substrate. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 323, 27–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titlyanov, E.A., Titlyanova, T.V., Yakovleva, I.M. and Sergeeva, O.S. (2007) Interaction between benthic algae (Lyngbya bouillonii, Dictyota dichotoma) and scleractinian coral Porites lutea in direct contact. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 342, 282–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, S. (1995) The effect of damage on the growth, reproduction and storage of lipids in the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 187, 193–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodley, J.D., Chornesky, E.A., Clifford, P.A., Jackson, J.B.C., Kaufinan, L.S., Knowlton, N., Lang, J.C., Pearson, M.P., Porter, J.W., Rooney, M.C., Rylaarsdam, K.W., Tunnicliffe, V.J., Wahle, C.M., Wulff, J.L., Curtis, A.S.G., Dallmeyer, M.D., Jupp, B.P., Kodhl, M.A.R., Neigel, J. and Sides, E.M. (1981) Hurricane Allen's impact on Jamaican coral reefs. Science 214, 749–755.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed