Resistance of Lophelia pertusa to coverage by sediment and petroleum drill cuttings |
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| Authors: | Elke Allers Raeid MM Abed Laura M Wehrmann Tao Wang Ann I Larsson Autun Purser Dirk de Beer |
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| Institution: | 1. Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstr. 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany;2. Sultan Qaboos University, College of Science, Biology Department, P.O. Box 36, 123, Al Khoud, Oman;3. Coral Reef Ecology Group (CORE), GeoBio-Center & Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Richard Wagner Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany;4. Department of Marine Ecology, Tjärnö, University of Gothenburg, 452 96 Strömstad, Sweden;5. Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany |
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| 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. |
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| Keywords: | Lophelia pertusa Cold-water coral reef Sedimentation Anoxia Cold-water coral-derived mucus Drill cuttings |
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