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Bathymetric adaptations of corals at Davies Reef, Great Barrier Reef: Light saturation

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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Corals were collected by scuba along 2 transects at Davies Reef in October 1980, and February, July and December 1981. Transect A-B ran from 1-17 m deep on the seaward margin of the reef flat. Transect C-D ran from 1-51 m deep on the seaward reef slope. Collection date, sea surface temperature, transect, depth and coral species were recorded.For the experiments, either a group of four 12 cm terminal branches of Acropora formosa or Acropora valenciennesi, or one 9 cm diameter colony of all other species were placed in a chamber and changes in dissolved oxygen content measured. Light measurements of photosynthetic photon flux density were in units of microEinsteins (400-700 nm) per square metre per second. Corals were incubated in the dark and light for periods of 20-30 min, arranged in order of increasing light intensity.The corals were frozen at the end of the experiment; chlorophylls and accessory pigments were extracted with 3 volumes of 20% tetrahydrofuran in methanol (v:v), separated and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. Ten replicate coral samples were analysed for protein content. To establish:- whether photoadaptations occur in reef-building corals- whether photoadaptations occur as continuous gradients correlated to ambient light intensity- whether relationships between photoadaptations and ambinet light intensity can be mathematically described- whether corals from high/low light environments correspond to definitions of sun/shade plants Data analyses were part of a series of three papers addressing:1. Long-term growth responses (data not held by AIMS)2. Light saturation curves for photosynthesis and respiration3. UV-B absorbing compounds (see separate metadata record)

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Bathymetric adaptations of corals at Davies Reef, Great Barrier Reef: Light saturation
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/326a8a9b-5d5f-4e1d-bcd9-c049c0db0122
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
reception@aims.gov.au
Reference Period 20/11/2017
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    147.633333,
    -18.85
  ],
  "type": "Point"
}
Data Portal data.gov.au

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on data.gov.au "Bathymetric adaptations of corals at Davies Reef, Great Barrier Reef: Light saturation". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/bathymetric-adaptations-of-corals-at-davies-reef-great-barrier-reef-light-saturation1