Study
Reef corals: mutualistic symbioses adapted to nutrient-poor environments
Muscatine, Leonard; Porter, James W.
BioScience, 1977
Synthesises evidence on the exchange between reef-building corals and their photosynthetic symbionts, and on how that exchange allows high productivity in water containing very little dissolved nutrient.
- Studied in
- Anthozoa, Symbiodiniaceae
- Sample size
- synthesis of coral physiology and reef nutrient studies
Symbionts within coral tissue supply a large share of the animal’s energy from photosynthesis, while the animal supplies nitrogen and carbon dioxide and a lit position near the surface. Nutrients cycle tightly between partners rather than being drawn from surrounding water.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The coral–algal symbiosis explains how reefs achieve high productivity in nutrient-poor tropical seas.
How NatureHQ reads it
The record that answers the question a reef poses on sight. Tropical surface water is close to a desert in nutrient terms, and reefs are among the most productive systems on earth. The resolution is that a reef mostly does not take nutrients from the water; it holds them and cycles them internally between animal and symbiont, which is why the arrangement is worth the coral’s dependence on it.
- A synthesis of its period; symbiont diversity and the flexibility of the partnership were then unknown.
- Contributions from feeding on plankton vary between coral species and were long underestimated.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
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Published by: University press journalsPublished in a university press journal.
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-04.