The effect of inhibitors of photosynthesis on zooxanthellae in corals and other marine invertebrates

Autor: J. H. Vandermeulen, Leonard Muscatine, N. D. Davis
Rok vydání: 1972
Předmět:
Zdroj: Marine Biology. 16:185-191
ISSN: 1432-1793
0025-3162
DOI: 10.1007/bf00346940
Popis: The effect of the selective photosynthesis inhibitors Monuron (CMU), Diuron (DCMU) and methyl viologen on intact algal-marine invertebrate symbiotic associations was studied. CMU or DCMU (5x10-4M) completely inhibited photosynthesis, both in intact branches, and in suspensions of isolated zooxanthellae from the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis. The inhibitory effect was totally reversible in 1 to 3 h after removal of the inhibitor. Similar inhibition of photosynthesis occurred in 8 other marine coelenterates symbiotic with zooxanthellae, and in 1 marine gastropod symbiotic with functional chloroplasts. Neither CMU nor DCMU appeared to affect behavior of the various hosts, such as swimming, phototaxis, phototropism, photoreception, tentacle contraction, ciliary beating and locomotion. Methyl viologen, however, was ineffective in inhibiting photosynthesis in intact P. damicornis at low concentrations, and lethal to the tissues at high concentrations. These observations indicate that CMU and DCMU are potential useful tools for investigation of symbiotic associations. DCMU (5x10-4M) also reversibly inhibited light-enhanced calcification in P. damicornis. This strongly suggests that light-enhanced calcification is largely photosynthesis dependent, and probably not dependent on some other photobiological effect.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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