[Coral-List] Do corals and their endosymbionts uptake nitrate in the dark ?

[Alina Szmant]

Yes corals do take up nitrate in the dark, at least for the normal night duration. Please see (and references within):  

Szmant, A. M., L. M. Ferrer, and L. M. FitzGerald.  1990.  Nitrogen excretion and O:N ratios in reef corals:    evidence for conservation of nitrogen.  Marine Biology.   104:  119-127.

We used nitrate uptake in the dark of the indicator for when the zooxanthellae were no longer able to take up the metabolic ammonium released by the corals during protein catabolism.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> On Behalf Of stephane roberty via Coral-List
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2019 5:20 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] Do corals and their endosymbionts uptake nitrate in the dark ?

Dear coral aficionados,

I checked the literature, even the very old from the 70-80's ;-), but I was unable to find the answer to the following question:  do corals and/or their endosymbionts uptake nitrate in the dark?

So does someone on the list has ever measured the uptake of NO3 by corals and/or their endosymbionts (in hospite or in culture) in the dark or during the night?

If yes, what were the results compared to the light period and to the ammonium uptake rates?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Stephane Roberty

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr Stephane Roberty | Senior Research and Teaching Assistant

Lab of Ecophysiology & Animal Physiology | Botanic institute (B22), Quartier Vallée 1, Chemin de la Vallée 4 | B4000 Liège | Belgium _______________________________________________
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