AUTHOR=Galli Giovanni , Solidoro Cosimo TITLE=ATP Supply May Contribute to Light-Enhanced Calcification in Corals More Than Abiotic Mechanisms JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2018 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00068 DOI=10.3389/fmars.2018.00068 ISSN=2296-7745 ABSTRACT=
Zooxanthellate corals are known to increase calcification rates when exposed to light, a phenomenon called light-enhanced calcification that is believed to be mediated by symbionts' photosynthetic activity. There is controversy over the mechanism behind this phenomenon, with hypotheses coarsely divided between abiotic and biologically-mediated mechanisms. At the same time, accumulating evidence shows that calcification in corals relies on active ion transport to deliver the skeleton building blocks into the calcifying medium, making it is an energetically costly activity. Here we build on generally accepted conceptual models of the coral calcification machinery and conceptual models of the energetics of coral-zooxanthellae symbiosis to develop a model that can be used to isolate the biologically-mediated and abiotic effects of photosynthesis, respiration, temperature, and seawater chemistry on coral calcification rates and related metabolic costs. We tested this model on data from the Mediterranean scleractinian