In mesophotic coral ecosystems, reef-building corals and their photosynthetic symbionts can survive with less than 1% of surface irradiance. How depth-specialist corals rely upon autotrophically and heterotrophically derived energy sources across the mesophotic zone remains unclear. We analysed the stable carbon (
For animals that harbor photosynthetic symbionts within their tissues, such as corals, the different relative contributions of autotrophy versus heterotrophy to organismal energetic requirements have direct impacts on fitness. This is especially true for facultatively symbiotic corals, where the balance between host‐caught and symbiont‐produced energy can be altered substantially to meet the variable demands of a shifting environment. In this study, we utilized a temperate coral–algal system (the northern star coral,
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10078189
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ecology and Evolution
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 22
- ISSN:
- 2045-7758
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 10805-10816
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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