Climate-change adaptation: Designer reefs

Mascarelli, Amanda

doi:10.1038/508444a

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In the future, genetic material from the hardy Kimberley corals may help to boost the resilience of corals in other parts of the world (i.e. through natural gene flow or genetic translocation and preservation [ 17 ], [ 70 ]) and may circumvent the need to artificially design ‘smart reefs’ [ 71 ]. Nevertheless, the Kimberley coral communities are by no means immune from climatically or anthropogenically-imposed changes, hence ongoing local resource management and conservation action are vital.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Diverse Assemblage of Reef Corals Thriving in a Dynamic Intertidal Reef Setting (Bonaparte Archipelago, Kimberley, Australia)

Richards

Garcia

Wallace³

et al. 2015

PLoS ONE

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The susceptibility of reef-building corals to climatic anomalies is well documented and a cause of great concern for the future of coral reefs. Reef corals are normally considered to tolerate only a narrow range of climatic conditions with only a small number of species considered heat-tolerant. Occasionally however, corals can be seen thriving in unusually harsh reef settings and these are cause for some optimism about the future of coral reefs. Here we document for the first time a diverse assemblage of 225 species of hard corals occurring in the intertidal zone of the Bonaparte Archipelago, north western Australia. We compare the environmental conditions at our study site (tidal regime, SST and level of turbidity) with those experienced at four other more typical tropical reef locations with similar levels of diversity. Physical extremes in the Bonaparte Archipelago include tidal oscillations of up to 8 m, long subaerial exposure times (>3.5 hrs), prolonged exposure to high SST and fluctuating turbidity levels. We conclude the timing of low tide in the coolest parts of the day ameliorates the severity of subaerial exposure, and the combination of strong currents and a naturally high sediment regime helps to offset light and heat stress. The low level of anthropogenic impact and proximity to the Indo-west Pacific centre of diversity are likely to further promote resistance and resilience in this community. This assemblage provides an indication of what corals may have existed in other nearshore locations in the past prior to widespread coastal development, eutrophication, coral predator and disease outbreaks and coral bleaching events. Our results call for a re-evaluation of what conditions are optimal for coral survival, and the Bonaparte intertidal community presents an ideal model system for exploring how species resilience is conferred in the absence of confounding factors such as pollution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Diverse Assemblage of Reef Corals Thriving in a Dynamic Intertidal Reef Setting (Bonaparte Archipelago, Kimberley, Australia)

Richards

Garcia

Wallace³

et al. 2015

PLoS ONE

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“…In conclusion, our results suggest that DNA methylation could offer corals greater ability to buffer the impacts of environmental changes and provide additional time for genetic adaptation to occur. Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying coral resilience will also provide additional avenues for reef-restoration efforts, such as the human-assisted acclimatization of corals in specialised nurseries (“designer reefs” 30 ). Such efforts might prove crucial to averting large-scale losses of extant coral reefs in light of recent global declines due to climate change.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenome-associated phenotypic acclimatization to ocean acidification in a reef-building coral

Liew

Zoccola

et al. 2017

Preprint

106

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Over the last century, the anthropogenic production of CO2 has led to warmer (+0.74 °C) and more acidic (-0.1 pH) oceans1, resulting in increasingly frequent and severe mass bleaching events worldwide that precipitate global coral reef decline2,3. To mitigate this decline, proposals to augment the stress tolerance of corals through genetic and non-genetic means have been gaining traction4. Work on model systems has shown that environmentally induced alterations in DNA methylation can lead to phenotypic acclimatization5,6. While DNA methylation has been observed in corals7-10, its potential role in phenotypic plasticity has not yet been described. Here, we show that, similar to findings in mice11, DNA methylation significantly reduces spurious transcription in the Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata, suggesting the evolutionary conservation of this essential mechanism in corals. Furthermore, we find that DNA methylation also reduces transcriptional noise by fine-tuning the expression of highly expressed genes. Analysis of DNA methylation patterns of corals subjected to long-term pH stress showed widespread changes in pathways regulating cell cycle and body size. Correspondingly, we found significant increases in cell and polyp sizes that resulted in more porous skeletons, supporting the maintenance of linear extension rates under conditions of reduced calcification. These findings suggest an epigenetic component in phenotypic acclimatization, providing corals with an additional mechanism to cope with climate change.

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“…Restoration of damaged reefs by transplantation of nursery-grown coral colonies increases coral cover, species diversity, coral reproduction capacity and local recruitment (Richmond and Hunter 1990;Horoszowski-Fridman et al 2011). If donor coral colonies are the survivors of previous bleaching events, coral transplantation increases the spread of bleaching-resistant genotypes and improves resilience (Edwards 2010;Mascarelli 2014). In coral reef restoration, long-term sustainability relies on enhancement of coral recruitment: transplants become an additional source of recruits, or recruits from elsewhere are attracted to the transplanted site by settlement cues associated with the presence of new corals Sponaugle et al 2002;Gleason et al 2009;Dixson et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean

Montoya-Maya¹,

Smit²,

Burt³

et al. 2016

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The aim of ecological restoration is to establish self-sustaining and resilient systems. In coral reef restoration, transplantation of nursery-grown corals is seen as a potential method to mitigate reef degradation and enhance recovery. The transplanted reef should be capable of recruiting new juvenile corals to ensure long-term resilience. Here, we quantified how coral transplantation influenced natural coral recruitment at a large-scale coral reef restoration site in Seychelles, Indian Ocean. Between November 2011 and June 2014 a total of 24,431 nursery-grown coral colonies from 10 different coral species were transplanted in 5,225 m 2 (0.52 ha) of degraded reef at the no-take marine reserve of Cousin Island Special Reserve in an attempt to assist in natural reef recovery. We present the results of research and monitoring conducted before and after coral transplantation to evaluate the positive effect that the project had on coral recruitment and reef recovery at the restored site. We quantified the density of coral recruits (spat <1 cm) and juveniles (colonies 1-5 cm) at the transplanted site, a degraded control site and a healthy control site at the marine reserve. We used ceramic tiles to estimate coral settlement and visual surveys with 1 m 2 quadrats to estimate coral recruitment. Six months after tile deployment, total spat density at the transplanted site (123.4 ± 13.3 spat m -2 ) was 1.8 times higher than at healthy site (68.4 ± 7.8 spat m -2 ) and 1.6 times higher than at degraded site (78.2 ± 7.17 spat m -2 ). Two years after first transplantation, the total recruit density was highest at healthy site (4.8 ± 0.4 recruits m RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalPhanor Hernando Montoya-Maya et al. / Nature Conservation 16: 1-17 (2016) 2 have a positive influence on coral recruitment and juveniles. The effect of key project techniques on the results are discussed. This study supports the application of large-scale, science-based coral reef restoration projects with at least a 3-year time scale to assist the recovery of damaged reefs.

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Climate-change adaptation: Designer reefs

Cited by 16 publications

References 9 publications

A Diverse Assemblage of Reef Corals Thriving in a Dynamic Intertidal Reef Setting (Bonaparte Archipelago, Kimberley, Australia)

A Diverse Assemblage of Reef Corals Thriving in a Dynamic Intertidal Reef Setting (Bonaparte Archipelago, Kimberley, Australia)

Epigenome-associated phenotypic acclimatization to ocean acidification in a reef-building coral

Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean

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