title: Pigmentation of massive corals as a simple bioindicator for marine water quality.
abstract: Photo-acclimatisation by the algal endosymbionts of scleractinian corals to changes in environmental conditions may influence their density and/or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments, and hence coral brightness, on short time-scales. To examine coral pigmentation as a bioindicator of water quality, the brightness of massive corals was quantified using colour charts, concentrations of the pigment chlorophyll a and reflectance spectrometry in the field and with manipulative experiments. Along a water quality gradient, massive Porites became progressively lighter as nutrients decreased and irradiance increased. A laboratory experiment showed that Porites nubbins darkened within 25 days following exposure to reduced water quality. The results of a transplantation experiment of Porites nubbins in a manipulation incorporating multiple depths and zones of water quality confirmed colony brightness as a simple tool to monitor changes in marine water quality, provided effects due to other influences on pigmentation, e.g. seawater temperatures, are taken into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, University of Western Australia Oceans Institute (M096), 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. t.cooper@aims.gov.au
authors.forename: Timothy F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Katharina E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Fabricius
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D001315:Australia; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D003116:Color; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010858:Pigmentation; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002734:Chlorophyll; D000077194:Chlorophyll A