What is the symbiotic relationship between coral polyps and the photosynthetic algae that live within them?
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Probably a mutualism in which coral provides structure, support, and security, while the algae provide energy for the coral.
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Red algae or Division Rhodophyta is a group of algae in which the red pigment is dominant; but that does not mean that they do not have green pigment or chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b . They DO possess these two pigments which are very essential for photosynthesis. Only thing is , they are MASKED by red pigments and hence the name Red algae.\n\nSo the answer is straight and clear. Red algae Do perform Photosynthesis.
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There are several protozoans that participate in mutualistic symbiosis with animals, they mostly reside in the gut. For example, termites would not be able to digest wood if protozoans did not live in their gut. As a matter of fact, 33-50% of a termite's biomass is protozoans or bacteria. \nCorals are highly dependent on their photosythetic symbionts (dinoflagellates).\n\nyou can read more examples at http://azolla.fc.ul.pt/aulas/Estagios/Docs/MutualisticSymbioses.pdf#search='protozoan%20mutualistic%20symbiosis' \njust scroll down to the section on protozoans.\nmore info at http://www.101science.com/Symbiosis.htm\nhope this helps!
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I am not entirely sure that I understand your question correctly, but let me simply rephrase, and if it is close enough, my answer may help you.\n\nCoral reefs are not simply reducable to the coral polyps themselves; it is a whole ecosystem, and a very productive one, too.  It is also a very sensitive ecosystem that is particularly susceptible to all sorts of environmental influences.  Given the impact of humans on the environment, coral reefs face increased challanges, such as problem with water quality (e.g., chemical pollutants), effects of over fishing (a problem in the Philipines, where many fishes are caught for export in the aquarium trade) etc. etc.  \n\nNow, what makes studying coral reefs so interesting and complex is the great species diversity and the complexity of physical and biological aspects that are the reef system.   It takes an interdisciplinary approach, and that means, studying not only biology, but oceanograhy, chemistry, physics...  the whole scale of natural sciences.  \n\nBut, it is certainly worth the effort, so if you are interested, I'd suggest you try to study biology and focus on reef ecology.  Good luck...
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try to search at google or just try to browse these websites: \nhttp://marinebio.org/Oceans/TheForests/\n\nhttp://www.answers.com/topic/alga\n\nhttp://www.whoi.edu/redtide/\n\nhttp://tuberose.com/Algae.html\n\nhope those would help
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abiotic=water temperature, wave height\nbiotic=algae, coral, sharks
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I am working on this problem without knowing if you even still need this info. But it is interesting. It seems the most important inorganic nutrient is sunlight!\n\nHere's a quote:\n\nAutotrophs absorb sunlight energy and transfer inorganic mineral nutrients into organic molecules. The autotrophs of the marine environment include algae and flowering plants and in the deep sea are chemosynthetic bacteria that harness inorganic chemical energy to build organic matter...AUTOTROPHIC NUTRITION..supply food molecules to organisms that can't absorb sunlight.\n\nfrom:http://darter.ocps.net/classroom/klenk/Ecology.htm\n\nHere's another link relative to the subject, I think:\nhttp://pubmedcentral.com/articlerender.fcgi?artid=18283\n\nThe oceanic distribution of cadmium follows closely that of major algal nutrients such as phosphate. The reasons for this “nutrient-like” distribution are unclear, however, because cadmium is not generally believed to have a biological function. Herein, we provide evidence of a biological role for Cd in the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii under conditions of low zinc, typical of the marine environment. Addition of Cd to Zn-limited cultures enhances the growth rate of T. weissflogii, particularly at low pCO2. This increase in growth rate is reflected in increased levels of cellular carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity, although the levels of TWCA1, the major intracellular Zn-requiring isoform of CA in T. weissflogii, remain low. 109Cd label comigrates with a protein band that shows CA activity and is distinct from TWCA1 on native PAGE of radiolabeled T. weissflogii cell lysates. The levels of the Cd protein are modulated by CO2 in a manner that is consistent with a role for this enzyme in carbon acquisition. Purification of the CA-active fraction leads to the isolation of a Cd-containing protein of 43 kDa. It is now clear that T. weissflogii expresses a Cd-specific CA, which, particularly under conditions of Zn limitation, can replace the Zn enzyme TWCA1 in its carbon-concentrating mechanism.\n\nMarine microorganisms are largely responsible for the cycling, and therefore the distribution, of many nutrients in the sea, and it is the availability of these nutrients that, in turn, controls oceanic primary production. This relationship is as true of essential trace elements as it is of major nutrients. In oceanic systems, the water column distribution of many biologically important trace metals is thus similar to that of the major nutrients: phosphate, nitrate, and silicate. At the surface, where photosynthetic activity depletes algal nutrients, such metals are present at extremely low concentrations, presumably as the result of biological uptake. Like those of major nutrients, these metal concentrations increase at depth because of decomposition of organic matter and remineralization.\n\nZinc, which has many known biological functions (1), is a good example of a metal that follows this type of nutrient-like profile. Cadmium, however, which is generally thought to be universally deleterious to living organisms, also has a nutrient-like profile (2); its concentration is so well correlated to that of phosphate that the accumulation of Cd in the fossilized tests of marine invertebrates is used as a measure of past nutrient concentrations in the sea (3). In the absence of a demonstrated biological function for Cd, it has been widely thought that abiotic processes, such as adsorption onto organic particles, modulate the distribution of this metal. Recently, it has been proposed that the depletion of Cd from surface seawater is caused by its use by marine phytoplankton (4). Under conditions of Zn limitation, Cd enhances the growth rate of some marine phytoplankton in culture (4–6), and it thus seems that Cd may replace Zn in some essential biochemical function.\n\nIn Thalassiosira weissflogii, the enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) constitutes a major use of cellular Zn (7), and the expression of TWC
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algal production is the major source of energy for the anemone,  but they also hunt for food.  They are capable of travelling accross the reef on their 'foot'. they appear to have indefinate lifespans.  http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen8.html \nhttp://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/r_talukdar_102697.html
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Oh good greif.\n\nThe correct answer is plantae.\n\nActually the correct answer is protista, since there are far more multicelluar algae than there are plants. But of the options gives plantae is the 'most correct'.\n\nAnimals and fungi do not photsynthesise, ever. They are defined by being obligate heterotrophs. \n\nEubacteria can photosynthesise but they are prokaryatotesand by defintion lack a nucleus.\n\nThat leaves plantae as the only group that is nucleated and capable of photosynthesis.
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Corals (class Anthozoa), which include sea anemones (order Actiniaria), are gastrovascular marine cnidarians (phylum Cnidaria) existing as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically forming colonies of many individuals. The group includes the important reef builders known as hermatypic corals, found in tropical oceans, and belonging to the subclass Zoantharia of order Scleractinia (formerly Madreporaria). The latter are also known as stony corals in as much as the living tissue thinly covers a skeleton composed of calcium carbonate. A coral "head" is formed of many individual polyps, each polyp only a few millimeters in diameter. The colony of polyps function essentially as a single organism by sharing nutrients via a well developed gastrovascular network, and the polyps are clones, each having the same genetic structure. Each polyp generation grows on the skeletal remains of previous generations, forming a structure that has a shape characteristic of the species, but subject to environmental influences.\n\nAlthough sea anemones can catch fish and other prey items and corals can catch plankton, they obtain much of their nutrient requirement from symbiotic unicellular dinoflagellates (type of algae) called zooxanthellae. Consequently, they are dependent upon growing in sunlight and for that reason usually found not far beneath the surface, although in clear waters corals can grow at depths of 60 m (200 ft). Other corals, notably the cold-water genus Lophelia, do not have associated algae, and can live in much deeper water, with recent finds as deep as 3000 m. Corals breed by spawning, with many corals of the same species in a region releasing gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon.\n\nCorals are major contributors to the physical structure of coral reefs that develop only in tropical and subtropical waters. Some corals exist in cold waters, such as off the coast of Norway (north to at least 69° 14.24' N) and the Darwin Mounds off western Scotland. The most extensive development of extant coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Indonesia is home to 581 of the world's 793 known coral reef-building coral species.\n\n\n\nHydra is a genus of simple, fresh-water animals possessing radial symmetry. Hydras are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa.\n\nHydras are low power microscopical life forms and are often studied by biologists due to their regenerative powers. They can be found in most un-polluted freshwater ponds, lakes and streams in the temperate and tropical regions by gently sweeping a collecting net through weedy areas.
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courtesy of Encarta Encyclopedia Online!\nThe phylum of Cnidarians, or Coelenterates, is a phylum within Kingdom Animalia and consists of hydras, jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals. This phylum consists of over 9000 species. All cnidarians are radially symmetrical, meaning that they have a central axis and are symmetrical all around it. Their level of complexity is right above that of sponges, among the Metazoa, or many cells animals. In all cnidarians, the mouth leads directly into the gastrovascular cavity, a digestive cavity. This cavity is filled with fluid, which services internal cells, provides body support, and helps maintain structure. There is no anus, and so excess food and waste products must exit through the mouth. As a result, the digestive system of cnidarians is considered incomplete. Another characteristic of cnidarians is that they all have two layers of living tissue. The first layer of living tissue is known as the dermis, and the second layer is know as the gastordermis. The dermis is the outer layer, and the gastordermis is the inner layer which forms the body cavity. A gelatinous layer called mesoglea separates these two layers. Also, in all cnidarians, nearly all functions are performed by individual tissues, not organs, despite the fact that a very small number of them do contain organs. Another characteristic of cnidarians is that they all have two layers of living tissue. The first layer of living tissue is known as the dermis, and the second layer is know as the gastordermis. The dermis is the outer layer, and the gastordermis is the inner layer which forms the body cavity. A gelatinous layer called mesoglea separates these two layers. Also, in all cnidarians, nearly all functions are performed by individual tissues, not organs, despite the fact that a very small number of them do contain organs.\n\nPhylum Cnidaria includes the following classes:\n\n-Class Schphozoa (The jellyfish, or jellies)\n-Class Hydrozoa (Diverse polyps, including hydras)\n-Class Cubozoa (A minor tropical class with cuboidal swimming cups)\n-Class Anthozoa (Sea anemones, corals)
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C: phytoplankton, which feeds the zooplankton and so\n(I know this because I buy both phytoplankton and zooplankton for my reef tank).
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It may very well be one of the brown algae, especially if your coral is in direct sunlight during some part of the day.  I don't know enough about corals or keeping fish to say if it's a danger, but a good pet shop should know.  If your fish is normally from saltwater, likely it is adapted to such things.
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Coral and hydra are both in the phylum Cnidaria, but hydra are in the class hydrozoa and most coral in anthozoa.  Hydrozoa have two body stages: medusa and polyp, whereas anthozoa only have one: polyp.  Coral often live in large colonies, whereas hydra do not.  Coral are mostly dependent on food from their symbiotic relationship with algae- not so with hydra (but they can form sybiotic relationships with some algae), therefore depend on growing in sunlight.  Coral can also grow much larger in size.
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Theory? I mean, I can think of the endosymbiotic theory, but that's eukaryotes. Perhaps you mean the organelle that carries out photosynthesis in prokaryotes?
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Many species of algae reproduce sexually and asexually.    Sexual reproduction in algae is often triggered by environmental stress\n\nDuring asexual reproduction, the algae first absorbs its flagellum, then the haploid cell divides mitotically up to three times, and from two to eight haploid flagellated cells called zoospores develop within the parent cell, lastly, the asexual reproductive cells break out of the parent cell, disperse, and eventually grow to full size. \n\nSexual reproduction begins by haploid cells dividing mitotically to produce either “plus” or “minus” gametes. A plus gamete and a minus gamete come into contact with one another and shed their cell walls, then they fuse and form a diploid zygote, which develops a thick protective wall; this resting stage of a zygote is called a zygospore.  A zygospore can withstand bad environmental conditions; during the bad environmental condition, the thick wall opens and the living zoospore emerges.\n\nyou can also refer following link to have more details.\n\nhttp://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~simmons/16labman05/lb1pg8.htm\n\nHope this helps!!!
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phytoplankton\nzoo plankton\nfilter feeders (clams, corals etc) and small fish\nlarger predatory fish and coral grazers\neven larger predatory fish