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Journal article
Chronic exposure of corals to fine sediments: lethal and sub-lethal impacts
PloS one, Vol.7(5), pp.e37795-e37795
01/01/2012
PMCID: PMC3360596
PMID: 22662225
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Understanding the sedimentation and turbidity thresholds for corals is critical in assessing the potential impacts of dredging projects in tropical marine systems. In this study, we exposed two species of coral sampled from offshore locations to six levels of total suspended solids (TSS) for 16 weeks in the laboratory, including a 4 week recovery period. Dose-response relationships were developed to quantify the lethal and sub-lethal thresholds of sedimentation and turbidity for the corals. The sediment treatments affected the horizontal foliaceous species (Montipora aequituberculata) more than the upright branching species (Acropora millepora). The lowest sediment treatments that caused full colony mortality were 30 mg l(-1) TSS (25 mg cm(-2) day(-1)) for M. aequituberculata and 100 mg l(-1) TSS (83 mg cm(-2) day(-1)) for A. millepora after 12 weeks. Coral mortality generally took longer than 4 weeks and was closely related to sediment accumulation on the surface of the corals. While measurements of damage to photosystem II in the symbionts and reductions in lipid content and growth indicated sub-lethal responses in surviving corals, the most reliable predictor of coral mortality in this experiment was long-term sediment accumulation on coral tissue.
Details
- Title
- Chronic exposure of corals to fine sediments: lethal and sub-lethal impacts
- Creators
- Florita Flores (Author) - Australian Institute of Marine ScienceMia O Hoogenboom (Author) - James Cook UniversityLuke D Smith (Author) - Australian Institute of Marine ScienceTimothy F Cooper (Author) - Australian Institute of Marine ScienceDavid Abrego (Author) - Australian Institute of Marine ScienceAndrew P Negri (Author) - Australian Institute of Marine Science
- Publication Details
- PloS one, Vol.7(5), pp.e37795-e37795
- Identifiers
- 991012888598402368
- Copyright
- (c) 2012 Flores et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permitsunrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- Academic Unit
- National Marine Science Centre
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article