Spectral effects on Symbiodinium photobiology studied with a programmable light engine.
The spectral light field of Symbiodinium within the tissue of the coral animal host can deviate strongly from the ambient light field on a coral reef and that of artificial light sources used in lab studies on coral photobiology. Here, we used a novel approach involving light microsensor measurements and a programmable light engine to reconstruct the spectral light field that Symbiodinium is exposed to inside the coral host and the light field of a conventional halogen lamp in a comparative study of Symbiodinium photobiology. We found that extracellular gross photosynthetic O2 evolution was unchanged under different spectral illumination, while the more red-weighted halogen lamp spectrum decreased PSII electron transport rates and there was a trend towards increased light-enhanced dark respiration rates under excess irradiance. The approach provided here allows for reconstructing and comparing intra-tissue coral light fields and other complex spectral compositions of incident irradiance. This novel combination of sensor technologies provides a framework to studying the influence of macro- and microscale optics on Symbiodinium photobiology with unprecedented spectral resolution.
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Daniel
D
Wangpraseurt
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Bojan
B
Tamburic
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Milán
M
Szabó
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
David
D
Suggett
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Peter J
PJ
Ralph
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Marine Biological Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Helsingør, Denmark; Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Michael
M
Kühl
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004579:Electron Transport / Q000502:physiology; D008027:Light; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D018462:Photobiology / Q000379:methods; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology*
D010100:Oxygen