[Coral-List] corals can eat their zooxanthellae

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

Cool Doug- and something I too was unaware of, even if it was previously
known.  : )

Many key findings and information in technical areas such as biochemistry,
genetics etc, does not get translated into the general/public knowledge of
coral reefs, or into a form whereby it can be easily assimilated by
university students and workers in the field, who until recently had poor
access to publications, especially to those that are not mainstream to our
field.  Is there a simple summary I can read somewhere?  I am constantly
playing catch up.

I never understood the specific energy and nutrient transfer mechanisms of
the symbiosis, as it was not taught when I was a graduate student, and
somehow I missed it subsequently.  I always wondered if the algae
generously and altruistically leaked out sugars and proteins for the host
to use, as that is what the public information seems to imply, or if the
host had to digest the algae to get them?  Do any of these papers tell us
how and where they digest the algae, does the algae have to be expelled
into the gastrovascular cavity or can it happen intracellularly?  If
intracellular digestion occurs, then how to get rid of the wastes?

And another question, how do the algae leak out and get shared with
incoming juvenile corals? As the algae are flagellated and can swim, how do
they get out to swim away?

And lastly, to Alina, opioids are no excuse for publicly shaming someone
and being rude.  It is no wonder that so many of our younger scientists
and those more sensitive are so terrified of posting on the Coral List.  I
was for years, but I got over it, as science is failing us at this critical
point in history - our house is on fire!   We know so much about a system
that may soon be gone.

Regards,

Austin

Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands

https://www.corals4conservation.org
Publication on C4C's coral-focused climate change adaptation strategies:
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/4/1/2/pdf
Film on our "Reefs of Hope" coral restoration for climate change adaptation
strategies:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0lqKciXAA
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>




On Sat, Aug 26, 2023 at 1:58 AM Alina Szmant via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> I know that I am on opiods due to my recent surgery, but this message
> makes me feel that I must be living in an alternative universe that is
> informationally separated from previous century. We knew that corals can
> digest and assimilate their zooxanthellae since Muscatine, Trench,  Yonge
> and other researchers work many decades ago. So your message makes we
> wonder if people simply just don't bother to read the literature,  or
> younger researchers are caught up in the "Breaking News" mindset.  I
> haven't looked at the papers yet, but my guess is that the new work is just
> adding details to a fact and process that has been long known.  So maybe
> just modify the messaging, such as "new information about the harvesting of
> zooxanthellae by their anthozoan hosts" would be more appropriate.  Nice to
> kearn new details about how nature works, but the sensationalism should
> left for cable news coverage of plane crashes and celebrity arrests.
>
> Alina Szmant
>
>
>
> Dr. Alina M. Szmant,  CEO
> CISME Instruments LLC
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Date: 8/24/23 11:06 PM (GMT-05:00)
> To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Subject: [Coral-List] corals can eat their zooxanthellae
>
> Like hard-working farmers, corals cultivate and eat their resident algae
>
>
> https://www.science.org/content/article/hard-working-farmers-corals-cultivate-and-eat-their-resident-algae
>
> Corals have algal friends for dinner
>
> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02593-7
>
> Note author contact
>
> Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts
>
>  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06442-5
>
> open-access
>
> It sounded like from the popular accounts that the corals only did that
> when the water they were in had zero nutrients in it, they didn't do it in
> low-nutrient water that is typical of tropical reefs in oligotrophic
> waters.  That's what it sounded like at least.
>
> Cheers, Doug
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Coral Reef Consulting
> PO Box 997390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA
>
> One recent study estimates over 61,000 people died from heat during
> Europe's record-breaking summer last year.
>
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/record-breaking-heat-bakes-us-014459083.html
>
> 1 million Florida buildings will be overrun by sea-level rise, new study
> shows, at a cost of $261-624 BILLION
>
>
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-million-florida-buildings-overrun-091203340.html
>
> Scientists size up human predatory footprint
> Humans are the ultimate predators, trapping, hunting, or otherwise
> exploiting 15,000 species of vertebrates—300 times more species than
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>
> https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-muscular-dystrophy-therapy-lab-grown-chicken-and-humans-toll-wildlife
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