Fraction of carbon fixed by zooxanthella (algae) to symbiontic coral under poor nutrient conditions

Value 95 %
Organism Coral
Reference Ilana Berman-Frank and Zvy Dubinsky, Balanced Growth in Aquatic Plants: Myth or Reality? Phytoplankton use the imbalance between carbon assimilation and biomass production to their strategic advantage, BioScience, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Jan., 1999), pp. 29-37 DOI: 10.1525/bisi.1999.49.1.29 p.34 right column 2nd paragraph
Primary Source Muscatine L, Falkowski PG, Dubinsky Z. 1983. Carbon budgets in symbiotic associations. Endocytobiosis 2: 649-658.
Comments p.34 right column 2nd paragraph: "In the coral–zooxanthellae symbiosis, uncoupling of photosynthesis from growth in the zooxanthellae symbiont is essential for a healthy association in the nutrient-poor “blue deserts” of tropical seas and is required for the flow of energy through the entire reef system (primary source, Falkowski et al. 1984, Dubinsky and Jokiel 1994). Figure 3a illustrates the normal uncoupled situation, in which carbon translocation from the alga to the animal proceeds at a high rate (values more than 95% of the net fixed carbon have been reported, primary source). The organic matter translocated to the corals is energy rich and nitrogen poor, and has been characterized as “junk food” (Falkowski et al. 1984) due to its deficiency in substances required for both zooxanthellae doubling and host coral growth." See Iluz 2015 PMID 25467066 abstract: "The relationship between reef-building corals and light-harvesting pigments of zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium sp.) has been acknowledged for decades. The photosynthetic activity of the algal endocellular symbionts may provide up to 90% of the energy needed for the coral holobiont."
Entered by Uri M
ID 104193