Coral Bleaching 3 Presentation by: Kelli Nelson

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Coral Bleaching 3Presentation by Kelli Nelson

• Kelli, Selima, Lauren, Lacey, and Randy

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Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05..

• Due to Hurricane Wilma, power was lost in the Cox
  Science Building and our Xenia polyps died.
• Now, we are working with Aiptasia

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Working with Aipstasia

• Taxonomy/Classification
• Phylum CnidariaClass AnthozoaOrder
  ActiniariaFamily AiptasiidaeGenus Aiptasia
  (often spelled Aptasia).
• Identification Zooxanthellae (a minute
  dinoflagellate alga living in the tissues of many
  types of marine invertebrates) in aiptasia
  anemones is what gives them their color. For this
  reason specimens that live in well sunlit exposed
  waters are usually light greenish brown to dark
  brown, with those residing in less sunlit
  environments medium to light brown or tan in
  color, while dark location dwellers have a
  transparent appearance due to the lack of
  exposure to sunlight altogether.

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Data for Week 3

• We worked with Aipstasia we scraped off pieces
  from the tank. Our Wet Weight was 0.1596 g
• After the homogenizing process, we counted a
  total of 305 zooxanthallae with an
• Average of 61

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How does UV radiation effect zooxanthellae
density over time?
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Experimental Design

• One tank will be in the absence of a UV light.
  This will be our control tank.
• Our tank will be under a constant UV light.
• Each day we will measure the tanks
• Salinity
• Temperature (Medium?)

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Experimental Design Cont

• Place UV lamp over zooxanthellae.
• Measure zooxanthellae density and amount of
  protein every week.
• Measure and compare zooxanthellae concentration
  of control every week.

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Control Data

• Weeks 1 2
• Zoox/ gram wet weight
• Week 1 4.31 x 108
• Week 2 5.26 x 108
• Chlorophyll Concentration (mg/106 cells)
• Week 1 0.22154827
• Week 2 0.029561893
• Amount of Protein
• Week 2 0.095113794

• Week 3
• Zoox/ gram wet weight
• Week 3 1.91 x 108
• Chlorophyll Concentration (mg/106 cells)
• Week 3 0.011672131 cells
• Amount of Protein
• Week 3 3.722 mg/g

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Lets get to work!
Lets get to work!!!!