title: Resistance of Lophelia pertusa to coverage by sediment and petroleum drill cuttings.
abstract: In laboratory experiments, the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa was exposed to settling particles. The effects of reef sediment, petroleum drill cuttings and a mix of both, on the development of anoxia at the coral surface were studied using O2, pH and H2S microsensors and by assessing coral polyp mortality. Due to the branching morphology of L. pertusa and the release of coral mucus, accumulation rates of settling material on coral branches were low. Microsensors detected H2S production in only a few samples, and sulfate reduction rates of natural reef sediment slurries were low (<0.3 nmol S cm(-3) d(-1)). While the exposure to sediment clearly reduced the coral's accessibility to oxygen, L. pertusa tolerated both partial low-oxygen and anoxic conditions without any visible detrimental short-term effect, such as tissue damage or death. However, complete burial of coral branches for >24 h in reef sediment resulted in suffocation.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstr. 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany. Electronic address: eallers@email.arizona.edu.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allers
authors.forename: Raeid M M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Abed
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Wehrmann
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ann I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Autun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Purser
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Beer
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D010578:Petroleum; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: Anoxia; Cold-water coral reef; Cold-water coral-derived mucus; DC; Drill cuttings; Lophelia pertusa; S; S+DC; Sedimentation; drill cuttings; mix of both sediment and drill cuttings; sediment