Coral skeletons defend against ultraviolet radiation.

PloS One
Ruth ReefOve Hoegh-Guldberg

Abstract

Many coral reef organisms are photosynthetic or have evolved in tight symbiosis with photosynthetic symbionts. As such, the tissues of reef organisms are often exposed to intense solar radiation in clear tropical waters and have adapted to trap and harness photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). High levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) associated with sunlight, however, represent a potential problem in terms of tissue damage. By measuring UVR and PAR reflectance from intact and ground bare coral skeletons we show that the property of calcium carbonate skeletons to absorb downwelling UVR to a significant extent, while reflecting PAR back to the overlying tissue, has biological advantages. We placed cnidarians on top of bare skeletons and a UVR reflective substrate and showed that under ambient UVR levels, UVR transmitted through the tissues of cnidarians placed on top of bare skeletons were four times lower compared to their counterparts placed on a UVR reflective white substrate. In accordance with the lower levels of UVR measured in cnidarians on top of coral skeletons, a similar drop in UVR damage to their DNA was detected. The skeletons emitted absorbed UVR as yellow fluorescence, which allows for safe dissipation of th...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Jun 3, 2014·BMC Plant Biology·Heidi L BurdettNicholas A Kamenos
Jan 22, 2011·Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences : Official Journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology·D-P HäderR C Worrest
Dec 15, 2015·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Ross JonesMatthew Slivkoff
Oct 27, 2017·Marine Drugs·Ewelina ChrapustaJan Bialczyk
Nov 14, 2019·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Elora H López, Stephen R Palumbi
Jul 30, 2020·Marine Drugs·João CotasLeonel Pereira
Feb 14, 2014·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Daniel WangpraseurtMichael Kühl
Aug 27, 2021·Marine Drugs·Marta Salvador FerreiraIsabel F Almeida

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
Fluorescence
ELISA

Software Mentioned

R

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