title: Relative Pigment Composition and Remote Sensing Reflectance of Caribbean Shallow-Water Corals.
abstract: Reef corals typically contain a number of pigments, mostly due to their symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic dinoflagellates. These pigments usually vary in presence and concentration and influence the spectral characteristics of corals. We studied the variations in pigment composition among seven Caribbean shallow-water Scleractinian corals by means of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis to further resolve the discrimination of corals. We found a total of 27 different pigments among the coral species, including some alteration products of the main pigments. Additionally, pigments typically found in endolithic algae were also identified. A Principal Components Analysis and a Hierarchical Cluster Analysis showed the separation of coral species based on pigment composition. All the corals were collected under the same physical environmental conditions. This suggests that pigment in the coral's symbionts might be more genetically-determined than influenced by prevailing physical conditions of the reef. We further investigated the use of remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) as a tool for estimating the total pigment concentration of reef corals. Depending on the coral species, the Rrs and the total symbiont pigment concentration per coral tissue area correlation showed 79.5-98.5% confidence levels demonstrating its use as a non-invasive robust technique to estimate pigment concentration in studies of coral reef biodiversity and health.
authors.affiliation: Bay Area Environmental Research Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-4, Bldg 245, Rm. 120, Moffett Field, CA, 94035, United States of America.
authors.forename: Juan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Torres-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Earth Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-4, Bldg 245, Rm. 120, P.O. Box 1, Moffett Field, CA, 94035, United States of America.
authors.forename: Liane S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Guild
authors.affiliation: Bio-optical Oceanography Laboratory, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, 00680, United States of America.
authors.forename: Roy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Chemical Oceanography Laboratory, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, 00680, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Corredor
authors.affiliation: Sociedad Ambiente Marino, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00931, United States of America.
authors.forename: Anabella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zuluaga-Montero
authors.affiliation: Universidad del Turabo, Escuela de Ciencias Naturales y Tecnología, Gurabo, Puerto Rico, 00778, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Polanco
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017691:Caribbean Region; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
chemical_list: D010860:Pigments, Biological