The Monaco Scientific Centre carries out fieldwork on Mediterranean corals: Collaboration between the Monaco Scientific Centre (CSM) and the Centre for Research on the Marine Environment (CRAM, La Spezia) at the Centre for New Technology, Energy and the Environment (ENEA). CSM and CRAM are combining their efforts to study the benthic marine fauna of the Gulf of La Spesia and the Porto Venere Islands, in Liguria, Italy. This area, protected by a regional marine park, holds a rich diversity of marine life, including numerous Mediterranean gorgonian and coral species.
The focus of the collaboration is to identify the food source of these gorgonian and coral species, ultimately to better understand their distribution and their resistance to the effects of climate change.
Coral utilise two modes of nutrition: heterotrophic feeding on zooplankton and the acquisition of nutrients transferred from symbiosis with intracellular algae. By contrast gorgonians are solely heterotrophic. The mode of nutrition (quality and quantity) is a major parameter in the resistance of these organisms to environmental stresses, hence the importance of this study for environmental management.
Currently, it is difficult to know which the dominant mode of nutrition is and whether this changes according to season. To address this question, carbon and nitrogen will be analysed in the tissues of gorgonians and corals, and in particles from the water column and sediment by mass spectrometry, during different seasons.
This collaboration involves both the expertise of CSM on coral physiology and CRAM’s knowledge of the natural environment.
For further information consult the CSM website: www.centrescientifique.mc or contact Dr Christine Ferrier-Pagès (+377 92 16 79 82).
From left to right, bottom row then top row: Drs. S. Reynaud, A. Peirano, G. Cerrati, R. Delfanti Directrice CRAM, C. Rottier, A. Negri, A. Bordone, S. Sgorbini, S. Cocito, M. Abbate et C. Ferrier-Pagès.
