A new study details how the cutting-edge microscope can advance understanding of coral life and bleaching.
Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have developed a new microscope that makes it possible to observe the intricate processes of coral life.
In a study published July 3 in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, the SIO scientists detail their diver-operated microscope, called the Benthic Underwater Microscope imaging PAM, or BUMP, which incorporates pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) light techniques to offer an unprecedented look at coral photosynthesis and why corals bleach.
A field deployment of the BUMP in Palmyra Atoll, where local corals were imaged and measured.
Samantha Clements
“This microscope is a huge technological leap in the field of coral health assessment,” Or Ben-Zvi, SIO postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study, said in a press release.
Corals are reef-building animals that can’t photosynthesize on their own, relying instead on microalgae living inside their tissues to do it for them. These symbiotic algae use sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen and energy-rich sugars that support coral growth and reef formation.Â
“Coral reefs are rapidly declining, losing their photosynthetic symbiotic algae in the process known as coral bleaching,” Ben-Zvi said. “We now have a tool that allows us to examine these microalgae within the coral tissue, non-invasively and in their natural environment.”
The microalgae are too small to be seen with the naked eye. When corals are stressed by warming waters or poor environmental conditions, they lose these microalgae, leading to a pale appearance known as coral bleaching and eventual starvation of the coral.
The BUMP imaging system will facilitate scientists’ understanding of why this process occurs.
Engineers and marine researchers in the SIO Jaffe Lab for Underwater Imaging designed and built the cutting-edge microscope with funding from the US National Science Foundation; Ben Zvi tested and calibrated the instrument, in collaboration with the Smith Lab at SIO, at several coral reef hot spots around the globe.
“The more time we spend with this microscope, the more we hope to learn about corals and why they do what they do under certain conditions,” Ben-Zvi said. “We are visualizing photosynthesis, something that was previously unseen at the scales we are examining, and that feels like magic.”
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