Nitrogen cycling and metabolic rates of aquacultured and wild Acropora coral from Guam in response to ammonium loading rates during 2020-2022

Rates from aquacultured corals and coral fragments collected in Guam in response to
ammonium loading. These data are from two separate experiments, one using aquacultured
corals and artificial seawater and light. The second was done with wild collected Acropora
pistillata from two reef sites in Guam. The first site was West Hagåtña Bay (N13.479650,
E144.741750; N13.479833, E144.741733) which had more nearby urban influences and was near
the sewage outfall for the city (Redding et al. 2013). The second site was Luminao Reef
(N13.4652417, E144.6477483; N13.465467, E144.648050) which was a more isolated reef on the
seaward side of the breakwater for Guam’s major port. We measured respiration, gross primary
production, 15N ammonium uptake to corals, related nitrogen cycling fluxes in the tanks
(reminerization, net uptake, nitrification).