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The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord

In the North Patagonian fjord region, the cold-water coral (CWC) Desmophyllum dianthus occurs in high densities, in spite of low pH and aragonite saturation. If and how these conditions affect the energy demand of the corals is so far unknown. In a laboratory experiment, we investigated the carbon a...

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Autores principales: Maier, Sandra R., Jantzen, Carin, Laudien, Jürgen, Häussermann, Verena, Försterra, Günter, Cornils, Astrid, Niggemann, Jutta, Dittmar, Thorsten, Richter, Claudio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8667745/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34966598
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12609
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author Maier, Sandra R.
Jantzen, Carin
Laudien, Jürgen
Häussermann, Verena
Försterra, Günter
Cornils, Astrid
Niggemann, Jutta
Dittmar, Thorsten
Richter, Claudio
author_facet Maier, Sandra R.
Jantzen, Carin
Laudien, Jürgen
Häussermann, Verena
Försterra, Günter
Cornils, Astrid
Niggemann, Jutta
Dittmar, Thorsten
Richter, Claudio
author_sort Maier, Sandra R.
collection PubMed
description In the North Patagonian fjord region, the cold-water coral (CWC) Desmophyllum dianthus occurs in high densities, in spite of low pH and aragonite saturation. If and how these conditions affect the energy demand of the corals is so far unknown. In a laboratory experiment, we investigated the carbon and nitrogen (C, N) budget of D. dianthus from Comau Fjord under three feeding scenarios: (1) live fjord zooplankton (100–2,300 µm), (2) live fjord zooplankton plus krill (>7 mm), and (3) four-day food deprivation. In closed incubations, C and N budgets were derived from the difference between C and N uptake during feeding and subsequent C and N loss through respiration, ammonium excretion, release of particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC, PON). Additional feeding with krill significantly increased coral respiration (35%), excretion (131%), and POC release (67%) compared to feeding on zooplankton only. Nevertheless, the higher C and N losses were overcompensated by the threefold higher C and N uptake, indicating a high assimilation and growth efficiency for the krill plus zooplankton diet. In contrast, short food deprivation caused a substantial reduction in respiration (59%), excretion (54%), release of POC (73%) and PON (87%) compared to feeding on zooplankton, suggesting a high potential to acclimatize to food scarcity (e.g., in winter). Notwithstanding, unfed corals ‘lost’ 2% of their tissue-C and 1.2% of their tissue-N per day in terms of metabolism and released particulate organic matter (likely mucus). To balance the C (N) losses, each D. dianthus polyp has to consume around 700 (400) zooplankters per day. The capture of a single, large krill individual, however, provides enough C and N to compensate daily C and N losses and grow tissue reserves, suggesting that krill plays an important nutritional role for the fjord corals. Efficient krill and zooplankton capture, as well as dietary and metabolic flexibility, may enable D. dianthus to thrive under adverse environmental conditions in its fjord habitat; however, it is not known how combined anthropogenic warming, acidification and eutrophication jeopardize the energy balance of this important habitat-building species.
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spelling pubmed-86677452021-12-28 The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord Maier, Sandra R. Jantzen, Carin Laudien, Jürgen Häussermann, Verena Försterra, Günter Cornils, Astrid Niggemann, Jutta Dittmar, Thorsten Richter, Claudio PeerJ Ecology In the North Patagonian fjord region, the cold-water coral (CWC) Desmophyllum dianthus occurs in high densities, in spite of low pH and aragonite saturation. If and how these conditions affect the energy demand of the corals is so far unknown. In a laboratory experiment, we investigated the carbon and nitrogen (C, N) budget of D. dianthus from Comau Fjord under three feeding scenarios: (1) live fjord zooplankton (100–2,300 µm), (2) live fjord zooplankton plus krill (>7 mm), and (3) four-day food deprivation. In closed incubations, C and N budgets were derived from the difference between C and N uptake during feeding and subsequent C and N loss through respiration, ammonium excretion, release of particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC, PON). Additional feeding with krill significantly increased coral respiration (35%), excretion (131%), and POC release (67%) compared to feeding on zooplankton only. Nevertheless, the higher C and N losses were overcompensated by the threefold higher C and N uptake, indicating a high assimilation and growth efficiency for the krill plus zooplankton diet. In contrast, short food deprivation caused a substantial reduction in respiration (59%), excretion (54%), release of POC (73%) and PON (87%) compared to feeding on zooplankton, suggesting a high potential to acclimatize to food scarcity (e.g., in winter). Notwithstanding, unfed corals ‘lost’ 2% of their tissue-C and 1.2% of their tissue-N per day in terms of metabolism and released particulate organic matter (likely mucus). To balance the C (N) losses, each D. dianthus polyp has to consume around 700 (400) zooplankters per day. The capture of a single, large krill individual, however, provides enough C and N to compensate daily C and N losses and grow tissue reserves, suggesting that krill plays an important nutritional role for the fjord corals. Efficient krill and zooplankton capture, as well as dietary and metabolic flexibility, may enable D. dianthus to thrive under adverse environmental conditions in its fjord habitat; however, it is not known how combined anthropogenic warming, acidification and eutrophication jeopardize the energy balance of this important habitat-building species. PeerJ Inc. 2021-12-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8667745/ /pubmed/34966598 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12609 Text en ©2021 Maier et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Maier, Sandra R.
Jantzen, Carin
Laudien, Jürgen
Häussermann, Verena
Försterra, Günter
Cornils, Astrid
Niggemann, Jutta
Dittmar, Thorsten
Richter, Claudio
The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord
title The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord
title_full The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord
title_fullStr The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord
title_full_unstemmed The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord
title_short The carbon and nitrogen budget of Desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified Patagonian fjord
title_sort carbon and nitrogen budget of desmophyllum dianthus—a voracious cold-water coral thriving in an acidified patagonian fjord
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8667745/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34966598
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12609
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