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One Step Closer to Non-Invasive: Quantifying Coral Zooxanthellae Pigment Concentrations Using Bio-Optics

Due to the invasive nature of quantification techniques, baseline pigment data for coral-dwelling zooxanthellae are not known. In an attempt to develop a model for non-invasive estimation of zooxanthellae pigment concentrations from corals, field samples were taken from Porites rus and P. lutea in Apra Harbor, Guam. In-situ reflectance spectra (R400-R800) from 22 coral colonies were collected. “Coral truthing” was accomplished by extracting corresponding tissue core samples. Subsequent analysis to quantify the concentrations of 6 zooxanthellae pigments (µg cm-2) was performed using HPLC. Trials of multiple linear regressions were attempted (EJ Hochberg) and found inappropriate, despite previous success. The multivariate calibration technique partial least squares regression (PLS-R) is an excellent tool in the case of co-linear variables. Thus, PLS-R was attempted for chlorophyll c2 and peridinin after demonstration of co-linearity. This may be an appropriate approach for development of bio-optical models to estimate zooxanthellae pigment concentrations. Further, the dinoflagellate diagnostic pigment peridinin may be of great value for reef-scale remote sensing of changes in coral status in the future.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:nova.edu/oai:nsuworks.nova.edu:occ_stuetd-1208
Date01 June 2012
CreatorsHancock, Harmony Alise
PublisherNSUWorks
Source SetsNova Southeastern University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations

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