Uptake of inorganic carbon and internal carbon cycling in symbiont-bearing benthonic foraminifera

Incorporation rates of inorganic carbon and its distribution between the organic matter and the skeleton have been measured using ¹⁴C tracer techniques on two species of symbiont-bearing benthonic foraminifera in the Gulf of Elat: Amphistegina lobifera (a perforate species) and Amphisorus hemprichii (an imperforate species). Under constant experimental conditions, incorporation rates of the radiotracer become linear with time after several hours in A. hemprichii and after one day in A. lobifera. A. lobifera showed a lag time of 24 h for skeletal incorporation, whereas in A. hemprichii uptake into the skeleton started within 2 h. Pulse-chase incubations in radioactive seawater, followed by unlabelled incubations, demonstrate transfer of photosynthetically acquired ¹⁴C into the skeleton of A. lobifera. No such transfer was found in A. hemprichii. The total ¹⁴C uptake by A. lobifera increased during the first 24 h of cold chase incubation. This increase suggests the existence of an internal inorganic carbon pool that was lost (probably evaporated) during the analysis of pulse incubations. However, during the following chase incubations, the ¹⁴C in this pool was incorporated mainly into the skeleton and retained during analysis, causing the increase in the total uptake. No such increase was found in A. hemprichii. Additional ¹⁴C uptake experiments on other species of the genera Operculina, Heterostegina and Borelis suggest that the differences in pathways for incorporation of carbon between A. lobifera and A. hemprichii can be generalized to the perforate and imperforate foraminiferal groups. In perforate species, respired carbon originally taken up through photosynthesis is partly recycled into the skeleton. In imperforate species such a transfer has not been demonstrated. Perforate species seem to have a large internal inorganic carbon pool which serves mainly for calcification and possibly also for photosynthesis, while imperforate species may take up carbon for calcification directly from seawater or have a very small inorganic carbon pool.