Compositions in Scleractinian Coral Skeletons

大型珊瑚的骨骼是气候和环境变化的重要记录。珊瑚骨骼中的密度带可以用作计时器，就像树轮一样，记录化学信息，如碳和氧同位素的变化。尽管这些特征引起了极大的兴趣和重要性，但人们对密度带如何或为什么形成，以及环境参数、珊瑚生理和稳定的同位素组成之间的确切关系知之甚少。该项目将通过仔细控制的实验室实验和常规监测的野外群体，研究控制稳定的碳和氧同位素以及珊瑚骨骼中的密度带。在实验室中，珊瑚将在七种不同的光和温度组合下生长。将持续测量生长条件，如温度、日照、水的同位素组成、食物的同位素组成和水的组成。在实验结束时，将分析骨骼生长的密度模式和碳、氧同位素。类似的测量将在一组野外殖民地上进行。

Skeletons of massive corals are important recorders of climatic and environmental change. Density bands in coral skeletons can be used as chronometers much like tree rings, recording chemical information such as variations in carbon and oxygen isotopes. In spite of the great interest and importance of these features, little is known about how or why density bands form, and about the precise relationships between environmental parameters, coral physiology and the stable isoptope composition. This project will study the control of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes and density banding in coral skeletons through carefully controlled laboratory experiments and routinely monitored field colonies. In the laboratory corals will be grown using seven different combinations of light and temperature. Conditions of growth such as temperature, insolation, isotopic composition of the water, isotopic composition of foods, and water composition will be continually measured. At the end of the experiment skeletal growth will be analyzed for density patterns and carbon and oxygen isotopes. Similar measurements will be made on a set of field colonies.