TY - JOUR

T1 - Rapid recycling of coral mass-spawning products in permeable reef sediments.

AU - Wild, Christian

AU - Tollrian, Ralph

AU - Huettel, Markus

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Marine Ecology Progress Series 271, 2004, © Inter Research.

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - During the annual synchronous release of gametes by corals, a large amount of energy-rich organic material is released to the reef environment. In November 2001, we studied a minor spawning event at Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Laboratory experiments showed that egg release by the staghorn coral Acropora millepora amounted to 19 ± 15 g dry mass (mean ± SE, n = 8) per m2 coral surface. Carbon content reached 60.1 ± 4.0% and nitrogen content 3.6 ± 0.4% of the egg dry mass. During this minor spawning period, Acropora corals from the reef crest released 7 g C and 0.4 g N as eggs m-2 reef. In situ experiments (n = 11) using stirred benthic chamber measurements revealed that the sedimentary O2 consumption (SOC) of the lagoon sediments increased sharply immediately after the coral spawning. Extreme SOC rates of 230 mmol O2 m-2 d-1 were reached 2 d after the event, exceeding the pre-spawning rate by a factor of 2.5. This maximum was followed by a steep decrease in SOC rates that gradually levelled off and reached pre-spawning values 11 d after the event. The immediate and strong response of SOC shows that the coral spawning event provides a strong food impulse to the benthic food chain. Our results demonstrate high decomposition efficiency of permeable carbonate reef sands and underline the role of these sediments as a biocatalytical recycling system in the oligotrophic reef environment.

AB - During the annual synchronous release of gametes by corals, a large amount of energy-rich organic material is released to the reef environment. In November 2001, we studied a minor spawning event at Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Laboratory experiments showed that egg release by the staghorn coral Acropora millepora amounted to 19 ± 15 g dry mass (mean ± SE, n = 8) per m2 coral surface. Carbon content reached 60.1 ± 4.0% and nitrogen content 3.6 ± 0.4% of the egg dry mass. During this minor spawning period, Acropora corals from the reef crest released 7 g C and 0.4 g N as eggs m-2 reef. In situ experiments (n = 11) using stirred benthic chamber measurements revealed that the sedimentary O2 consumption (SOC) of the lagoon sediments increased sharply immediately after the coral spawning. Extreme SOC rates of 230 mmol O2 m-2 d-1 were reached 2 d after the event, exceeding the pre-spawning rate by a factor of 2.5. This maximum was followed by a steep decrease in SOC rates that gradually levelled off and reached pre-spawning values 11 d after the event. The immediate and strong response of SOC shows that the coral spawning event provides a strong food impulse to the benthic food chain. Our results demonstrate high decomposition efficiency of permeable carbonate reef sands and underline the role of these sediments as a biocatalytical recycling system in the oligotrophic reef environment.

KW - Corals · Mass spawning · Permeable sediments · Sedimentary oxygen consumption · SOC · Coral reefs · Recycling

U2 - 10.3354/meps271159

DO - 10.3354/meps271159

M3 - Journal article

VL - 271

SP - 159

EP - 166

JO - Marine Ecology Progress Series

JF - Marine Ecology Progress Series

SN - 1616-1599

ER -