Tsang, Yu Man. / "November 2009." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 268-277). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.iii / Content --- p.vii / List of Tables --- p.ix / List of Figures --- p.xx / Chapter Chapter One --- General Introduction --- p.1 / Introduction --- p.1 / Coral Reefs --- p.1 / Coral-Algal Symbiosis --- p.2 / The Dinoflagellate Symbiodinium --- p.11 / Coral Communities in Hong Kong --- p.18 / Objectives --- p.21 / Study Sites - Tung Ping Chau Marine Park --- p.21 / Coral Species chosen for the Experiment --- p.23 / Platygyra acuta --- p.23 / Porites lutea --- p.23 / Thesis Outline --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Temporal variation in photophysiological parameters of Hong Kong corals and their relationship with the environmental factors --- p.28 / Introduction --- p.28 / Methods and Materials --- p.33 / Study Sites --- p.33 / Coral Sampling for zooxanthellae density and chlorophyll concentration analysis --- p.34 / Measurement of changes in the photosynthtic activity of the corals --- p.38 / Environmental Factors --- p.38 / Data analysis --- p.39 / Results --- p.41 / Density of Zooxanthellae --- p.41 / Concentrations of Chlorophyll a and c2 (per zooxanthella) --- p.43 / Concentrations of Chlorophyll a and c2 (per surface area) --- p.46 / Chlorophyll ratio --- p.49 / Effective quantum yield --- p.51 / Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) --- p.54 / Intra-colony variation for Platygyra acuta --- p.56 / Comparison between Platygyra acuta and Porites lutea --- p.64 / Environmental factors and their correlations with photophysiological parameters in corals --- p.68 / Discussion --- p.73 / Density of zooxanthellae --- p.74 / Concentrations of Chlorophyll a and c2 --- p.80 / Chlorophyll ratio --- p.85 / Effective quantum yield --- p.88 / Intra-colony variation --- p.94 / Between species comparison --- p.98 / Summary --- p.107 / Chapter Chapter Three --- PCR-RFLP Analysis on Symbiodinium in Platygyra acuta --- p.241 / Introduction --- p.241 / Methods and Materials --- p.244 / Sample collection --- p.244 / Molecular phylotyping --- p.245 / Results --- p.247 / Discussion --- p.249 / Summary --- p.257 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Summary and Conclusion --- p.262 / References --- p.268