Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2023, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 133-145.doi: 10.11978/2022183CSTR: 32234.14.2022183

• Marine Biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Physiological responses of two soft corals to herbicide acetochlor stress

YU Qiang1,2(), DONG Xianxian1,2, LI Changqing3, ZHANG Xin3, ZHAO Guoli1,2, CHIN Yaoxian1,2, WANG Peizheng1,2()   

  1. 1. Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Environment Processes and Carbon Sequestration, Sanya 572022, China
    2. Yazhou Bay Innovation Research Institute, Hainan Institute of Tropical Oceanography, Sanya 572022, China
    3. Hainan Sanya National Coral Reef Nature Reserve Management Office, Sanya 572000, China
  • Received:2022-08-23 Revised:2022-10-06 Online:2023-07-10 Published:2022-10-11
  • Supported by:
    Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province(321MS0821)

Abstract:

In this paper, using acetochlor (ACT) as the stress environment, the long-term and short-term stress of Sarcophyton sp. and Sinularia sp. with different concentrations of acetochlor were used to study the stress changes in coral physiological indicators. Studies have shown that the chlorophyll a and zooxanthellae contents of succulent soft corals and brachydactyly soft corals increased first and then decreased after different concentrations of acetochlor stress. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT) activity will continue to increase and then decrease and maintain a low level, Alkaline Phosphatase (AKP) activity will first increase and then gradually decrease, Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) activity increased and maintained at a high level. The symbiotic zooxanthellae diversity of succulent soft corals became lower, while the abundance of symbiotic zooxanthellae of Brachydactyly soft corals became lower. The zooxanthellae with high abundance all belonged to group C, while the abundance of group G of Brachydactyly was increased. The abundance of soft coral Cyanobacteria gradually increased and the abundance of Firmicutes gradually decreased after stress. The above studies showed that acetochlor had great changes in coral physiological indicators after the stress of Sarcophyton sp. and Sinularia sp..

Key words: soft coral, acetochlor, zooxanthellae, Physiological indicators