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Correlative geochemical imaging of Desmophyllum dianthus reveals biomineralisation strategy as a key coral vital effect

Correlative geochemical imaging of Desmophyllum dianthus reveals biomineralisation strategy as a key coral vital effect
Correlative geochemical imaging of Desmophyllum dianthus reveals biomineralisation strategy as a key coral vital effect

The chemical and isotopic composition of stony coral skeletons form an important archive of past climate. However, these reconstructions are largely based on empirical relationships often complicated by "vital effects" arising from uncertain physiological processes of the coral holobiont. The skeletons of deep-sea corals, such as Desmophyllum dianthus, are characterised by micron-scale or larger geochemical heterogeneity associated with: (1) centres of calcification (COCs) where nucleation of new skeleton begins, and (2) fibres that thicken the skeleton. These features are difficult to sample cleanly using traditional techniques, resulting in uncertainty surrounding both the causes of geochemical differences and their influence on environmental signals. Here we combine optical, and in-situ chemical and isotopic, imaging tools across a range of spatial resolutions (~ 100 nm to 10 s of μm) in a correlative multimodal imaging (CMI) approach to isolate the microstructural geochemistry of each component. This reveals COCs are characterised by higher organic content, Mg, Li and Sr and lower U, B and δ 11B compared to fibres, reflecting the contrasting biomineralisation mechanisms employed to construct each feature. CMI is rarely applied in Environmental/Earth Sciences, but here we illustrate the power of this approach to unpick the "vital effects" in D. dianthus, and by extension, other scleractinian corals.

Animals, Anthozoa/metabolism, Biomineralization, Calcification, Physiologic
2045-2322
Standish, Christopher D.
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Trend, Jacob
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Kleboe, Jacob
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Chalk, Thomas B.
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Mahajan, Sumeet
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Milton, J. Andy
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Page, Tessa
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Robinson, Laura F.
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Stewart, Joseph A.
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Foster, Gavin L.
fbaa7255-7267-4443-a55e-e2a791213022
Standish, Christopher D.
0b996271-da5d-4c4f-9e05-a2ec90e8561d
Trend, Jacob
63f583e3-79be-4a5b-954a-10fb70fb1118
Kleboe, Jacob
e766f285-d73b-495b-9938-da3d75169a16
Chalk, Thomas B.
018858f8-8551-431e-8631-2dd26a88f5ca
Mahajan, Sumeet
b131f40a-479e-4432-b662-19d60d4069e9
Milton, J. Andy
9e183221-d0d4-4ddb-aeba-0fdde9d31230
Page, Tessa
d650dc79-64eb-4f14-b16c-86266cdeefc8
Robinson, Laura F.
1c5472f3-1574-4a7a-8d1f-f9b13f6479fb
Stewart, Joseph A.
69894bea-c03d-44a9-8f12-ff55580c6009
Foster, Gavin L.
fbaa7255-7267-4443-a55e-e2a791213022

Standish, Christopher D., Trend, Jacob, Kleboe, Jacob, Chalk, Thomas B., Mahajan, Sumeet, Milton, J. Andy, Page, Tessa, Robinson, Laura F., Stewart, Joseph A. and Foster, Gavin L. (2024) Correlative geochemical imaging of Desmophyllum dianthus reveals biomineralisation strategy as a key coral vital effect. Scientific Reports, 14 (1), [11121]. (doi:10.1038/s41598-024-61772-2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The chemical and isotopic composition of stony coral skeletons form an important archive of past climate. However, these reconstructions are largely based on empirical relationships often complicated by "vital effects" arising from uncertain physiological processes of the coral holobiont. The skeletons of deep-sea corals, such as Desmophyllum dianthus, are characterised by micron-scale or larger geochemical heterogeneity associated with: (1) centres of calcification (COCs) where nucleation of new skeleton begins, and (2) fibres that thicken the skeleton. These features are difficult to sample cleanly using traditional techniques, resulting in uncertainty surrounding both the causes of geochemical differences and their influence on environmental signals. Here we combine optical, and in-situ chemical and isotopic, imaging tools across a range of spatial resolutions (~ 100 nm to 10 s of μm) in a correlative multimodal imaging (CMI) approach to isolate the microstructural geochemistry of each component. This reveals COCs are characterised by higher organic content, Mg, Li and Sr and lower U, B and δ 11B compared to fibres, reflecting the contrasting biomineralisation mechanisms employed to construct each feature. CMI is rarely applied in Environmental/Earth Sciences, but here we illustrate the power of this approach to unpick the "vital effects" in D. dianthus, and by extension, other scleractinian corals.

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Standish et al 2024 Correlative geochemical imaging of Desmophyllum dianthus reveals biomineralisation strategy as a key coral vital effect - Version of Record
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Accepted/In Press date: 9 May 2024
Published date: 15 May 2024
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.
Keywords: Animals, Anthozoa/metabolism, Biomineralization, Calcification, Physiologic

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 490220
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/490220
ISSN: 2045-2322
PURE UUID: 1019bea7-b5ae-4de3-8ce4-386dca56c33a
ORCID for Christopher D. Standish: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9726-295X
ORCID for Sumeet Mahajan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-6666
ORCID for J. Andy Milton: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4245-5532
ORCID for Tessa Page: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5575-7049
ORCID for Gavin L. Foster: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3688-9668

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Date deposited: 20 May 2024 17:03
Last modified: 08 Jun 2024 02:05

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Contributors

Author: Jacob Trend
Author: Jacob Kleboe
Author: Thomas B. Chalk
Author: Sumeet Mahajan ORCID iD
Author: J. Andy Milton ORCID iD
Author: Tessa Page ORCID iD
Author: Laura F. Robinson
Author: Joseph A. Stewart
Author: Gavin L. Foster ORCID iD

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