Coral Reefs exam 1

how do corals succeed in nutrient pour waters?

nutrient cycling through symbiosis between various animals in photoautotroph. However, this is not 100% efficient.

what is the average water temperature for coral growth?

18°C

what is mutualism?

Both benefit

what is parasitism?

One benefits, one is harmed

What is commensalism?

One benefit and one is neutral

what is predation/pathogen

one benefits the other is dead

define symbiosis?

Physical and or physiological interaction between two or more species

what two factors are main suppliers of nutrients to reefs

Rainfall and terrestrial runoff

what are the five challenges of studying coral

inconvenient sizes, slow growing, difficult to maintain, hard calcium skeleton, and protected

define hysterisis

it may be possible to return to original state after face shift, but the way back may be different than the path that led to the face shift

what is an example of an Osmoregulator?

Red Sea corals

four types of broadcast spawning corals?

Orbicla Faveolata (Star), Diploria Strigosa (brain),Acropora Palmata (Elkhorn), Acropora cervicornis (staghorn)

Acropora Cervicornis

staghorn coral

Acropora Palmata

Elkhorn coral

Diploria Strigosa

Brain coral

Orbicella faveolata

star coral

4 examples of brooding corals

• favia fragum

• siderastrea sideria

• pocillopora damicornis

• porites asteroides

what’s the difference between Gonichronistic versus Hermaphroditic corals?

Separate sexes versus both sexes

what are the two forms of asexual reproduction present in coral?

Fragmentation and brooding/broadcast spawning

what is extreme intratentacular budding

when the polyp buds with little to no pinching off, for example, the meandering ribbons of polyps that make up brain coral

what is extratentacular budding?

When the daughter polyp emerges outside of the ring of tentacles, forming a new, small polyp

what is intratentacular budding

When butting occurs within the ring of tentacles

What are the two main types of budding?

intratentacular, and extratentacular budding

what are two examples of soft corals?

Gorgonia ventalina, Heliopora Coerulea

name four main Scleractinia species

Acropora Palmata, Acropora cervicornis, orbicella faveolata, and diploria strigosa

which group of hexacorals may be an ancestral group from which modern reef building corals evolved

corallimorphs

about ¼ of corals are hermaphrodite while the rest are ____ meaning they are separate sexes,

gonochronistic

What’s the difference between an Osmoregulator versus an Osmoconformer?

Osmoregulators regulate internal salt relative to the external environment while Osmoconformer allow internal environment to mirror external environment

what order of class Anthazoa do black corals belong to?

Antipathetic

What’s the coelentron?

the corals digestive cavity

What’s the mesoglea?

the cellulose area between 2 tissue layers

What are the characteristics of cnidarians

• stinging cells

• radial symmetry

• 2 tissue layers

What’s the scientific name for fire coral

Millepora complanata

what’s the cenosarc?

The connecting tissue/tube that connects neighboring polyps

What’s the coralite?

Cup of calcium carbonate that the polyp resides

What’s the name of the symbiosis corals have with algae? What does it mean?

Endosymbiotic it means algae lives inside the corals tissue

what are the three major groupings of cniderians important to reefs?

Hexacorals

Octocorals

Black corals and sea whips

what’s the scientific name for Stoney corals and what does it mean?

Hexacorallia it means it has tentacles and multiples of six

What’s the scientific name for soft corals and what does it mean?

Octocorallia, it means it has eight tentacles

What are two coral’s sub classes?

Hexacorallia and Octocorallia

what class are corals in?

Anthazoa

Where do dinoflagellates/zooxanthelae reside? 

Inside the gastroderm, inside the symbiozome membrane

What is polytrophic

when an organism (coral) derives its nutrients from other organisms (algae)

What is a PAM

Pulse Amplitude Modulation

How do the algae living in coral get CO2?

• coral respiration

• the CO2 produced during calcification

How can scientists measure a corals photosenthetic capacity? What equation does this represent?

through chlorophyll using PAM and the equation Fv/Fm 

What do zooxanthelae eat?

sugars

What are the 8 (ish) main functions of coral mucus?

• aid in coral feeding

• defense against pathogenic microbes

• UV protectant

• protection against desication

• defense against sedimentation

• defense againts marine pollutants

• surfactant/ lubricant

• reproduction

• defense against physical damage and wound healing

What is a coral holobiont made up of?

the symbiotic algae and other microbes inside of a coral

What nutrient plays the largest role in the growth of the coral holobiont?

Nitrogen

How do corals gain nitrogen?

through heterotrophic feeding

What organism does nitrogen fixation? Why is this important?

Zooxanthelae, it is important for when nitrogen levels are low, this is how the coral would get its nutrients