Spectral effects on Symbiodinium photobiology studied with a programmable light engine

Daniel Wangpraseurt, Bojan Tamburic, Milán Szabó, David Suggett, Peter J. Ralph, Michael Kühl

13 Citations (Scopus)
238 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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 O 2 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.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere112809
JournalP L o S One
Volume9
Issue number11
Number of pages8
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Nov 2014

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