[Coral-List] corals can eat their zooxanthellae

Fri Aug 25 21:13:51 UTC 2023

Hi Lisa,

See Rob van Woesik's post copied below on a different title thread: How can
this be our homework when so much of the older literature is obscure?  And
what about the obscure journals like Autophagy- is that even a journal?
LOL!   Plus the articles so not seem to agree on mechanisms.

I am not a detective, I am busy!   When the ecosystem most vulnerable to
climate change is so critically threatened we need this information.

Stay safe!

Austin
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
Rob van Woesik:  "While the experimental work by Weinmann et al (2023) in
Nature is laudable and an excellent extension of our understanding of coral
symbiosis, and with all due respect to the classic work by Trench,
Muscatine et al., and later Titlyanov et al (1996) Marine Ecology Progress
Series 139: 167-178) on the potential digestion of symbionts by coral
hosts, H Boschma in 1925, page 429, was the first to 'discover' that corals
digest or partially digest their symbionts."

Biological Bulletin (Marine Biol Lab Woods Hole) 49: 407-439.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1536652. See: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1536652.
"These algae are always found in the remains of the food in the gastric
cavity. These algae are here in different stages of decomposition, owing to
their being digested by the polyps" Boschma 1925 (page 49).

>From EstI Winter's post:
Downs CA, Kramarsky-Winter E, Martinez J, Kushmaro A, Woodley CM, Loya Y,
Ostrander GK. Symbiophagy as a cellular mechanism for coral bleaching.
Autophagy. 2009 Feb;5(2):211-6. doi: 10.4161/auto.5.2.7405. Epub 2009 Feb
13. PMID: 19066451.

On Sat, Aug 26, 2023 at 8:58 AM Lisa Carne <lisasinbelize at gmail.com> wrote:

> Greetings from Belize, all.
>
> Stayed away long time ( busy) BUT
>
> I want to add that i heard many disappointed folks from last in person
> ICRS meeting ( and not because of the covid rates- which btw is back here
> atm in belize)
>
> Disappointments conveyed to me were on the lack of research & prior
> knowledge, lack of lit searches, lack  of proper historical science/
> knowledge on many presenters part- wasn’t there- no specific talks or names
> do i have. Was not there.
>
> Personally, I do not have access to many publications but EVERY SINGLE
> AUTHOR i have messaged for a publication has sent me a PDF over the last
> decade.
>
> So: we don’t publish much as no time, I am not condoning current academic/
> publishing bs . Simply saying that:
>
> Not enough people do their homework.
>
> Best from Belize,
> Lisa Carne
> Fragments of Hope
>
> Look us up if you don’t know us
>
>
>
> > On 25-Aug-2023, at 14:25, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> >> jaguars and 113 times more than great white sharks.
> >>
> >>
> https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-muscular-dystrophy-therapy-lab-grown-chicken-and-humans-toll-wildlife
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