Tropical stony corals host diverse microbial nitrogen dynamics

Coral health hinges on an intricate relationship between the coral animal, photosynthetic algae of the family Symbiodiniaceae, and a microbial community of bacterial, archaeal, fungal, and viral associates collectively termed the coral holobiont. This holobiont maintains the nutrient balance of their symbiosis amid reefs' otherwise oligotrophic environment, including by cycling physiologically important nitrogen compounds. Nitrogen (N) fixation has been well quantified in corals in accounting for the source of their fixed N, but no complementary loss term had been directly detected. This pathway is important for understanding sources and sinks of nitrogen on reefs and how they may impact coral success. Here we use ¹⁵N-tracer experiments to produce the first measurements of nitrate reduction, nitrite oxidation, and nitrous oxide (N₂O) production in five species of reef-building corals in the Gardens of the Queen, Cuba.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Joint Program in Chemical Oceanography

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Tamasi, Tyler(Tyler James)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Andrew R. Babbin.

• Joint Program in Chemical Oceanography.
• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123746

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/123746