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Preliminary observations on the carbon isotopic composition of some reef coral tissues and symbiotic zooxanthellae 1
Author(s) -
Land Lynton S.,
Lang Judith C.,
Smith Bruce N.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1975.20.2.0283
Subject(s) - hermatypic coral , zooxanthellae , coral , algae , reef , oceanography , coral reef , δ13c , cnidaria , dissolved organic carbon , biology , stable isotope ratio , environmental chemistry , ecology , geology , chemistry , symbiosis , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , bacteria
The stable carbon isotopic composition of total coral tissue resembles that of isolates of its endosymbiotic zooxanthellae and varies with depth for several common Jamaican hermatypic scleractinian corals. In shallower water, both algae and total coral tissue are enriched in the heavier 13 C isotope, suggesting that the shallow water zooxanthellae may photosynthesize at faster rates than the algae in the deeper water corals sampled, and that most of the organic carbon in the tissues of these shallow water corals has passed through their zooxanthellae.