Abstract:
This report describes activities of Mote Marine Laboratory's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site Program. The purpose of this project was to develop a coral culture facility at Mote Marine Laboratory Pigeon Key Marine Research Center in the Florida Keys. More specifically, the research objectives included the development of a Western Atlantic coral model using culture techniques; to examine the similarity of the culture model with previous coral studies with respect to photosynthetic and calcification performance as a function of irradiance; to test the validity of a proposed calcium compartmental model; to test the hypothesis that activation of calcium channels is essential for high rates of calcification; and to test the hypothesis that activation of calcium channels is essential for high rates of calcification.
