Ecophysiology of the coral and of the ecosystem is used to study calcification and symbiosis, the two major processes connected with corals.

The ecophysiology team of the Scientific Centre of Monaco is researching on the following themes :

The influence of global changes on the functioning of coral ecosystems and their calcification processes.

Corals among the principal marine calcifying organisms. It is now well established that anthropic activities (pollution, emission of greenhouse gases, urbanisation) produce important modifications of the environment such as the increase of the partial pressure of CO2, the intensification of ultraviolet rays, or the eutrophication of littoral waters. Corals are affected by these changes and react by a decrease in calcification, important bleaching and the development of severe and sometimes fatal diseases.

Corals as environmental archives

As they grow, corals record the physicochemical conditions of the marine environment (temperature, salinity, CO2 concentration, nutriments) in their skeletons. The interpreting of this information allows for a reconstitution of past climates (paleoclimatology) which is a theoretical basis for modeling future climates.

Coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis and mixtrophy

A particularity of corals is to live in symbiosis with dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae capable, from carbon dioxide and dissolved nutritive salts, of the photosynthetic production of organic molecules, most of which are transferred to the animal for its own nutritional needs. Corals not only have autotrophic nutrition but can also capture zooplankton prey (heterotrophic nutrition). The relative importance of autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition for energy production in corals is still debatable.

Coral-bacterial interactions

Evidence of interactions between coral and bacterial communities in the marine environment is being investigated and the type of interactions and the diversity of the roles played by each protagonist needs to be defined.