Handoko Adi Susanto¹ , Makoto Komoda² , Masaaki Yoneda² , Akihiro Kano³ , Mutsunori Tokeshi⁴ , Hiroko Koike³

1. Marine Protected Areas Governance, Jl. Wolter Monginsidi No. 63B. Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan, 12180. Indonesia
2. Japan Wildlife Research Center, Taitoku, Tokyo, Japan
3. Department of Environmental Changes, SCS, Kyushu University, Motooka, Nishiku, Fukuoka, Japan
4. Amakusa Marine Biology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Japan
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 36   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0036
Received: 26 May, 2013    Accepted: 23 Jun., 2013    Published: 02 Jul., 2013

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Susanto et al, 2013, Effect of Sedimentation to Branching Corals Detected Using Nitrogen and Carbon Isotopes, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.36 285-294 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0036)

This study assessed variations in the relationship between zooxanthellae and their coral hosts seasonally and spatially. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes (d¹³C and d¹⁵N) were used to analyze the patterns of nutritional transport between coral and zooxanthellae. Studies of temporal differences were conducted during two dry seasons and one rainy season in the Berau Marine Conservation Area, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. To assess spatial variations, coral samples from three genera (Porites, Seriatopora and Stylophora) were collected from three localities, designated as nearest, medium, and farthest from the Berau River mouth. The lower d¹³C of Seriatopora compared with the other two genera suggested that corals in this genus were more actively utilizing particulate organic matter and adopting a heterotrophic feeding mode. The d¹³C values of coral tissue and zooxanthellae also were affected by differences in seasons, localities, and depth, whereas the d¹⁵N values varied significantly with seasons alone. Differences in d¹⁵N values between coral tissue and zooxanthellae were always positive in the first and second dry seasons, but negative in the rainy season. This finding indicated that zooxanthellae were the main source of coral nutrients during the dry season, while host coral may support zooxanthellae nutrition during rainy season of low turbidity. Spatially, sedimentation does not show significant impact to the relationship between coral and zooxanthellae.

Coral; Zooxanthellae; East Kalimantan; Indonesia; Nitrogen and carbon isotopes