photoperiod and coral growth

[Frankie1]

anyone seen any articles on length of photoperiod and growth? do corals grow better with longer photoperiods or not?

frankie

 

[MCsaxmaster]

You're in luck as this is only a few months old. In some short term incubations (24 hrs) the longer the light period (up to 20 hrs) the more the corals calcified. Moya et al., 2006

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/209/17/3413

cj

 

[awestruck]

Let Mother Nature answer that question.

 

[rwbogard]

Good find on the article! It answered many questions I had.

 

[marsh]

http://rimg.geoscienceworld.org/cgi...85d9b60188eacecbcbad9819&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Geochemical Perspectives on Coral Mineralization

The above article is a bit at odds with "Study of calcification during a daily cycle of the coral Stylophora pistillata: implications for `light-enhanced calcification'" article. The Stylophora study basically says the longer the lights are on the more calcification you will have.

The Geochemical article doesn't disagree but during the unlit period, there is a passive crystallinization of aragonite which is the nidus for centers of calcification (COC). It is during the unlit period that corals lengthen by creating new COC's . The lit period increases the density.

So if you increase the photoperiod, to my reading, you get short dense corals. Decrease it and you get long, porous corals.

What the balance should be is probable found in nature.