Me4002

The effect of intraspecific and interspecific interactions in terms of survivorship was determined by examining the living tissue at the edges of two coral micro-colonies placed 1 cm apart for tissue loss after 12 weeks. Healthy micro-colonies were recorded as (+ 1), whereas unhealthy micro-colonies were recorded as (0). Percent tissue loss of coral micro-colonies were determined at week 0 and week 12 based on the digital images obtained using a digital camera (Canon S100) and images were analysed using ImageJ. Growth of coral micro-colonies was determined based on their weight in seawater using the culture water in which they were grown and measured using a weighing balance (Mettler Toledo ME4002). Environmental parameters were recorded weekly, i.e., salinity, temperature, DO and pH were measured using a HQ40D portable multi meter. HOBO pendant temperature and light data loggers were deployed in both in-situ and ex-situ environments.

One gram of each sample was weighed using laboratory scale balance (ME4002, Mettler Toledo, USA) in a Teflon tube (HVT50, Anton Paar, Austria). Four milliliters of nitric acid (HNO₃) at 65% reagent quality (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany) and 2 mL of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany) were then added. Samples were subjected to a wet microwave digestion process (Multiwave Go, Anton Paar, Austria) (Table 3) [22 (link)]. The digestion process lasted for 1 h. Once the samples had been digested, they were placed in 10-mL volumetric flasks, made up to the mark with Milli-Q quality distilled water, and transferred to hermetic containers for measurement (in triplicate). The proportion was 1:10 (w/v).Table 3

Instrumental microwave conditions for wet digestion of samples

No	Ramp (min)	Temperature (°C)	Time (min)
1	15′00″	50	5′00″
2	5′00″	60	4′00″
3	5′00″	70	3′00″
4	3′00″	90	2′00″
5	20′00″	180	10′00″

Microwave processing power, 850 W; limit temperature, 200 °C; cooling temperature, 50 °C

The reference weight was generated by weighing individual food items to the nearest 0.1 g using a precision scale (ME4002, Mettler Toledo, Greifensee, Switzerland). Conversion into macronutrient content was performed using the Swiss Food Composition Database [15 (link)].