scholarly journals Linking photoacclimation responses and microbiome shifts between depth-segregated sibling species of reef corals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Prada ◽  
Tomas Lopez-Londono ◽  
F. Joseph Pollock ◽  
Sofia Roitman ◽  
Kim B. Ritchie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sibling Species ◽  
Coral Species ◽  
Algal Community ◽  
Adaptive Divergence ◽  
Reef Restoration ◽  
Reef Corals ◽  
Niche Specialization ◽  
Reciprocal Transplantation ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Host Complex

Metazoans host complex communities of microorganisms that include dinoflagellates, fungi, bacteria, archaea, and viruses. Interactions among members of these complex assemblages allow hosts to adjust their physiology and metabolism to cope with environmental variation and occupy different habitats. Here, using reciprocal transplantation across depths, we studied adaptive divergence in the Caribbean corals Orbicella annularis and O. franksi. When transplanted from deep to shallow, O. franksi experienced fast photoacclimation, low mortality, and maintained a consistent bacterial community. In contrast, O. annularis experienced higher mortality, and limited photoacclimation when transplanted from shallow to deep. The photophysiological collapse of O. annularis in the deep environment was associated with an increased microbiome variability and reduction of some bacterial taxa. Differences in the symbiotic algal community were more pronounced between coral species than between depths. Our study suggests that these sibling species are adapted to distinctive light environments partially driven by the algae photoacclimation capacity and the microbiome robustness, highlighting the importance of niche specialization in symbiotic corals for the maintenance of species diversity. Our findings have implications for the management of these threatened Caribbean corals and the effectiveness of coral reef restoration efforts.

scholarly journals Bleaching resistant corals retain heat tolerance following acclimatization to environmentally distinct reefs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie L. Barott ◽  
Ariana S. Huffmyer ◽  
Jennifer M. Davidson ◽  
Elizabeth A. Lenz ◽  
Shayle B. Matsuda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Species ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Reef Restoration ◽  
Reciprocal Transplantation ◽  
Promising Strategy ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Diel Variability ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Growth And Reproduction ◽  
Urgent Action

AbstractUrgent action is needed to prevent the demise of coral reefs as the climate crisis leads to an increasingly warmer and more acidic ocean. Propagating climate change resistant corals to restore degraded reefs is one promising strategy; however, empirical evidence is needed to determine if resistance is retained following transplantation within or beyond a coral’s natal reef. Here we assessed the performance of bleaching-resistant individuals of two coral species following reciprocal transplantation between environmentally distinct reefs (low vs high diel variability) to determine if stress resistance is retained following transplantation. Critically, transplantation to either environment had no influence on coral bleaching resistance, indicating that this trait was relatively fixed and is thus a useful metric for selecting corals for reef restoration within their native range. In contrast, growth was highly plastic, and native performance was not predictive of performance in the novel environment. Coral metabolism was also plastic, with cross transplants of both species matching the performance of native corals at both reefs within three months. Coral physiology (autotrophy, heterotrophy, and metabolism) and overall fitness (survival, growth, and reproduction) were higher at the reef with higher flow and fluctuations in diel pH and dissolved oxygen, and did not differ between native corals and cross-transplants. Conversely, cross-transplants at the low-variability reef had higher fitness than native corals, thus increasing overall fitness of the recipient population. This experiment was conducted during a non-bleaching year, which suggests that introduction of these bleaching-resistant individuals will provide even greater fitness benefits to recipient populations during bleaching years. In summary, this study demonstrates that propagating and transplanting bleaching-resistant corals can elevate the resistance of coral populations to ocean warming while simultaneously maintaining reef function as the climate crisis worsens.

Middle Miocene recovery of Caribbean reef corals: New data from the Tamana Formation, Trinidad

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth G. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Middle Miocene ◽  
New Records ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Reef Corals ◽  
Rigorous Description ◽  
Caribbean Coral Reef ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Stratigraphic Ranges ◽  
Biotic Change

Caribbean coral reef communities were restructured by episodes of accelerated biotic change during the late Oligocene/early Miocene and the late Pliocene/early Pleistocene. However, rigorous description of the effects of rapid biotic change is problematic because preservation and exposure of coral-bearing deposits is not consistent in all stratigraphic intervals. In the Caribbean, early and middle Miocene exposures are more rare than late Miocene and Pliocene exposures. One exception is the late early to early middle Miocene Tamana Formation of Trinidad, and old and new collections from this unit were studied to determine the timing of recovery after the Oligocene/Miocene transition. A total of 41 species of zooxanthellate corals were recovered from the unit, including 21 new records. Within these assemblages, species first occurrences outnumber species last occurrences by a factor of four (31 first occurrences and eight last occurrences). The extension of the stratigraphic ranges of species previously first recorded in Pliocene sediments has reduced an apparent Pliocene pulse of origination, indicating that the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition was largely a result of accelerated extinction against a background of near-constant origination. The fact that few species last occur in the Tamana fauna indicates that the Oligocene/Miocene transition was complete by the end of the early Miocene.

scholarly journals An emerging coral disease outbreak decimated Caribbean coral populations and reshaped reef functionality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip ◽  
F. González-Barrios ◽  
Esmeralda Pérez-Cervantes ◽  
Ana Molina-Hernandez ◽  
Nuria Estrada-Saldívar
Keyword(s):  
Coral Species ◽  
Coral Disease ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Carbonate Production ◽  
Coral Abundance ◽  
Caribbean Coral ◽  
Coral Communities ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Physical Functionality

Abstract Diseases are major drivers of the deterioration of coral reefs, linked to major declines in coral abundance, reef functionality, and reef-related ecosystems services1-3. An outbreak of a new disease is currently rampaging through the populations of the remaining reef-building corals across the Caribbean region. The outbreak was first reported in Florida in 2014 and reached the northern Mesoamerican reef by summer 2018, where it spread across the ~ 450-km reef system only in a few months4. Rapid infection was generalized across all sites and mortality rates ranged from 94% to < 10% among the 21 afflicted coral species. This single event further modified the coral communities across the region by increasing the relative dominance of weedy corals and reducing reef functionality, both in terms of functional diversity and calcium carbonate production. This emergent disease is likely to become the most lethal disturbance ever recorded in the Caribbean, and it will likely result in the onset of a new functional regime where key reef-building and complex branching acroporids (a genus apparently unaffected) will once again become conspicuous structural features in reef systems with yet even lower levels of physical functionality.

Nature-based Solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Status and Priorities for Growth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Ozment ◽  
Anelise Schumacher ◽  
Maggie Gonzalez ◽  
Emmie Oliver ◽  
Gabriela Morales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Urban Flooding ◽  
Investment Opportunity ◽  
River Flooding ◽  
Reef Restoration ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Shed Light

Nature-based solutions (NBS) can contribute to equitable and sustainable development across Latin America and the Caribbean and represent an important investment opportunity for national and subnational governments, infrastructure service providers, development banks, and corporations. Examining the status of NBS efforts and results within the region can shed light on what is required to drive more investment towards NBS projects. To chart a pathway forward, this brief provides a regional review of NBS projects, their status, and implications for investment. These NBS projects aim to address a variety of objectives, including securing water supply, improving water quality, reducing landslide risk, and helping to manage urban flooding, river flooding, or coastal flooding and erosion. The projects utilize a broad range of types of NBS, from forest management to coral reef restoration. This brief outlines the difficulties to scaling NBS adoption in the region and identifies strategies to address the challenges moving forward.

scholarly journals The mushroom coral as a habitat

2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 647-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bert W. Hoeksema ◽  
Sancia E.T. Van der Meij ◽  
Charles H.J.M. Fransen
Keyword(s):  
Coral Species ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Coral Host ◽  
Associated Fauna ◽  
Reef Corals ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Mushroom Coral ◽  
Endosymbiotic Algae ◽  
Associated Species ◽  
Shallow Seas

The evolution of symbiotic relationships involving reef corals has had much impact on tropical marine biodiversity. Because of their endosymbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) corals can grow fast in tropical shallow seas where they form reefs that supply food, substrate and shelter for other organisms. Many coral symbionts are host-specific, depending on particular coral species for their existence. Some of these animals have become popular objects for underwater photographers and aquarists, whereas others are hardly noticed or considered pests. Loss of a single coral host species also leads to the disappearance of some of its associated fauna. In the present study we show which mushroom corals (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) are known to act as hosts for other organisms, such as acoel flatworms, copepods, barnacles, gall crabs, pontoniine shrimps, mytilid bivalves, epitoniid snails, coralliophilid snails, fish and certain types of zooxanthellae. Several of these associated organisms appear to be host-specific whereas other species are generalists and not even necessarily restricted to fungiid hosts.Heliofungia actiniformisis one of the most hospitable coral species known with a recorded associated fauna consisting of at least 23 species. The availability of a phylogeny reconstruction of the Fungiidae enables comparisons of closely related species of mushroom corals regarding their associated fauna. Application of a phylogenetic ecological analysis indicates that the presence or absence of associated organisms is evolutionarily derived or habitat-induced. Some associations appear to be restricted to certain evolutionary lineages within the Fungiidae, whereas the absence of associated species may be determined by ecomorphological traits of the host corals, such as coral dimensions (coral diameter and thickness) and polyp shape (tentacle size).

scholarly journals Ecological solutions to reef degradation: optimizing coral reef restoration in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Lirman ◽  
Stephanie Schopmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Western Atlantic ◽  
Reef Restoration ◽  
Reef Structure ◽  
Reef Degradation ◽  
Complex Engineering ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Direct And Indirect Benefits

Reef restoration activities have proliferated in response to the need to mitigate coral declines and recover lost reef structure, function, and ecosystem services. Here, we describe the recent shift from costly and complex engineering solutions to recover degraded reef structure to more economical and efficient ecological approaches that focus on recovering the living components of reef communities. We review the adoption and expansion of the coral gardening framework in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic where practitioners now grow and outplant 10,000’s of corals onto degraded reefs each year. We detail the steps for establishing a gardening program as well as long-term goals and direct and indirect benefits of this approach in our region. With a strong scientific basis, coral gardening activities now contribute significantly to reef and species recovery, provide important scientific, education, and outreach opportunities, and offer alternate livelihoods to local stakeholders. While challenges still remain, the transition from engineering to ecological solutions for reef degradation has opened the field of coral reef restoration to a wider audience poised to contribute to reef conservation and recovery in regions where coral losses and recruitment bottlenecks hinder natural recovery.

scholarly journals Hosts of the Plio-Pleistocene past reflect modern-day coral vulnerability

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1737) ◽  
pp. 2448-2456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert van Woesik ◽  
Erik C. Franklin ◽  
Jennifer O'Leary ◽  
Tim R. McClanahan ◽  
James S. Klaus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
International Union ◽  
Widespread Distribution ◽  
The Past ◽  
Biological Trait ◽  
Global Extinction ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Extinction Events

The risk of global extinction of reef-building coral species is increasing. We evaluated extinction risk using a biological trait-based resiliency index that was compared with Caribbean extinction during the Plio-Pleistocene, and with extinction risk determined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Through the Plio-Pleistocene, the Caribbean supported more diverse coral assemblages than today and shared considerable overlap with contemporary Indo-Pacific reefs. A clear association was found between extant Plio-Pleistocene coral genera and our positive resilience scores. Regional extinction in the past and vulnerability in the present suggests that Pocillopora, Stylophora and foliose Pavona are among the most susceptible taxa to local and regional isolation. These same taxa were among the most abundant corals in the Caribbean Pliocene. Therefore, a widespread distribution did not equate with immunity to regional extinction. The strong relationship between past and present vulnerability suggests that regional extinction events are trait-based and not merely random episodes. We found several inconsistencies between our data and the IUCN scores, which suggest a need to critically re-examine what constitutes coral vulnerability.

scholarly journals Low symbiont diversity in southern Great Barrier Reef corals, relative to those of the Caribbean

2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 2046-2054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd C. LaJeunesse ◽  
William K. W. Loh ◽  
Robert van Woesik ◽  
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg ◽  
Gregory W. Schmidt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Reef Corals ◽  
The Caribbean

The effects of Biorock-associated electric fields on the Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi) and the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas)

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcella P. Uchoa ◽  
Craig P. O’Connell ◽  
Thomas J. Goreau
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Reef Shark ◽  
Reef Restoration ◽  
Caribbean Reef ◽  
Carcharhinus Leucas ◽  
Treatment Type ◽  
Bull Shark ◽  
The Caribbean

Healthy coral reefs are biologically diverse and provide vital ecosystem services. However, decreasing water quality and global warming are key contributors to coral reef decline, which poses substantial environmental threats. In response to this degradation, an innovative coral reef restoration technology, called Biorock, utilizes weak direct current electric fields to cause limestone deposition on conductive materials, inevitably inducing prolific coral reef growth. Although expediting coral growth, research on how the associated electric fields may impact the behavioural patterns of teleosts and/or organisms (i.e. elasmobranchs) possessing electroreception capabilities is lacking. Therefore, we studied the behavioural responses of two shark species, the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) and the Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi) and multiple teleost species towards weak direct current electric fields in Bimini, Bahamas. Generalized linear mixed model analyses based on 90 trials illustrate that both the feeding and avoidance behaviors of C. leucas and C. perezi were significantly associated with treatment type, with the weak experimental electrode treatments resulting in the greatest quantity of avoidances and fewest feedings for both species. However, data analyses illustrate that teleost feeding behavior was not observably impacted by experimental treatments. Although the Biorock technology exhibits promise in coral reef restoration, the findings from this study illustrate a need for future large-scale studies assessing shark behavioral patterns around these devices, since the deterrence of apex predators may impact ecosystem balance.

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