Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2011, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (2): 46-50.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2011.02.046cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2011.02.046

• Coral Reefs • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Diurnal variations of photosynthetic efficiency of symbiotic algae of reef-building corals in a Sanya fringing reef

HUANG Ling-ying1,2, YU Ke-fu1,2, SHI Qi1, ZHAO Mei-xia1, CHEN Tian-ran1, YAN Hong-qiang1   

  1. 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS, Guangzhou 510301, China;       2. Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, CAS, Sanya 572000, China
  • Received:2010-04-22 Revised:2010-11-14 Online:2011-05-06 Published:2011-05-04
  • About author:黄玲英(1984—), 女, 福建省龙岩市人, 硕士, 主要从事珊瑚礁与环境关系研究。E-mail: kefuyu@scsio.ac.cn
  • Supported by:

    海洋公益性行业科研专项(200705026); 国家自然科学基金项目(40830852、41025007); 国家重点基础研究发展计划项目(2007CB815905)

Abstract:

Using pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) chlorophyll fluorescence techniques, the authors monitored the photo-chemical efficiency of symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) within the tissues of three species of reef-building corals in a Sanya fringing reef, and analyzed their response to diurnal irradiance variations. The results indicate that: 1) Fv/Fm′, an indicator of actual photochemical efficiency, showed clear diurnal variations, with high values occurring in the morning and evening when solar radiation was weak and low values occurring in the noon matching with strong solar radiation. Regression analysis suggests that the Fv/Fm′ values were negatively corelated to both radiation and water temperature, and were more likely adjusted by solar radiation. 2)Although sunlight is essential for the photosynthesis of symbiotic algae, a threshold was found between the sunshine intensity and photosynthetic efficiency. When the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) was lower than 250µmol•(m2•s)-1, the Fv/Fm′ increased with the increasing of PAR; while Fv/Fm′ decreased with the increasing of PAR when PAR was higher than 250µmol•(m2•s)-1. 3) Among the three investigated corals, Goniastrea aspera showed smaller amplitude of daily Fv/Fm′ variations than that of Porites lutea and Montipora digitata, which had similar Fv/Fm′ variations to each other.

Key words: reef-building corals, Fv/Fm′, photochemical efficiency, photo-inhibition