Natural Services and Economic Value
Symbiodinium are among the most studied of the Dinophyceae. Their mutualistic relationships with reef-building corals form the basis of a highly diverse and productive ecosystem. Coral reefs have economic benefits – valued at hundreds of billions of dollars each year – in the form of ornamental, subsistence, and commercial fisheries, tourism and recreation, coastal protection from storms, a source of new bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical development, and more. The economic value of Symbiodinium is thus immeasurable. Their continued productivity as symbionts and the functioning of tropical reef ecosystems are in serious jeopardy due to rapid ocean warming.
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