Coral conservation in a warming world must harness evolutionary adaptation

Colton, Madhavi A.; McManus, Lisa C.; Schindler, Daniel E.; Mumby, Peter J.; Palumbi, Stephen R.; Webster, Michael J.; Essington, Timothy E.; Fox, Helen E.; Forrest, Daniel L.; Schill, Steven R.; Pollock, F. Joseph; DeFilippo, Lukas B.; Tekwa, Edward W.; Walsworth, Timothy E.; Pinsky, Malin L.

doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01854-4

Cited by 23 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…A correlation between genetic dissimilarity and geographic distance as well as within-species genetic structuring (by sNMF genetic clustering; Figures 1&3) was only detected in Porites (in line with less resolutive past studies; Boulay et al 2014; Baums, Boulay, and Polato 2012) , and residuals (after TreeMix consensus tree generation) gave a considerably stronger within-species introgression signal in Pocillopora than in Porites (Figure 5). Maintenance of connectivity to ensure exchange of alleles is a key aim of resilience-based conservation management strategy (Mcleod et al 2019) and has been demonstrated to facilitate robustness and recovery to stress in reef ecosystems (Palumbi 2003; Van Oppen and Gates 2006; Colton et al 2022). Therefore, whilst the higher number of species resolved in Pocillopora may suggest a greater conservation effort is required (greater species diversity to protect), its higher connectivity, in concert with its relatively high levels of species sympatry at certain sites (all species are present when considering only two sites, e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disparate patterns of genetic divergence in three widespread corals across a pan-Pacific environmental gradient highlights species-specific adaptation trajectories

Hume

Voolstra

Armstrong

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Tropical coral reefs are among the worst affected ecosystems by climate change with predictions ranging between a 70-90% loss of reefs in the coming decades. Effective conservation strategies that maximize ecosystem resilience, and potential for recovery, must be informed by the accurate characterization of extant genetic diversity and population structure together with an understanding of the adaptive potential of keystone species. Here, we analyzed samples from the Tara Pacific Expedition (2016 to 2018) that completed an 18,000 km longitudinal transect of the Pacific Ocean sampling three widespread corals - Pocillopora meandrina, Porites lobata, and Millepora cf. platyphylla - across 33 sites from 11 islands. Using ultra-deep metagenomic sequencing of 269 colonies in conjunction with morphological analyses and climate variability data we can show that the sampled transect encompasses multiple morphologically cryptic species that exhibit disparate biogeographic patterns, and most importantly, distinct evolutionary patterns, despite exposure to identical environmental regimes. Our findings demonstrate on a basin-scale that evolutionary trajectories are species-specific and complex, and can only in part be predicted from the environment. This highlights that conservation strategies must integrate multi-species investigations to consider the distinct genomic footprints shaped by selection as well as the genetic potential for adaptive change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disparate patterns of genetic divergence in three widespread corals across a pan-Pacific environmental gradient highlights species-specific adaptation trajectories

Hume

Voolstra

Armstrong

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…A combination of limited dispersal and varied natural selection across local scales of 10s of km might allow the mechanisms of adaptation studied over longer distance (e.g., the Indo‐West Pacific, Matz et al, 2020 ) to also be observed on local reef complexes. In such cases, the value of local programs of assisted migration and reef protection might be able to be modeled and incorporated into local planning (Colton et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both patterns together not only are consistent with local retention and selection of some coral larvae on natal reefs over short spatial scales but also the occurrence of rare long distance larval dispersal across the Pacific basin. These results help determine the scales of effective dispersal that are fundamental to models of future adaptation of reefs during climate change, and may help indicate whether local management decisions such as assisted migration might be able to increase adaptive potential (Colton et al, 2022 ; Matz et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Small‐scale genetic structure of coral populations in Palau based on whole mitochondrial genomes: Implications for future coral resilience

Palumbi

Walker

Hanson

et al. 2023

Evolutionary Applications

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The ability of local populations to adapt to future climate conditions is facilitated by a balance between short range dispersal allowing local buildup of adaptively beneficial alleles, and longer dispersal moving these alleles throughout the species range. Reef building corals have relatively low dispersal larvae, but most population genetic studies show differentiation only over 100s of km. Here, we report full mitochondrial genome sequences from 284 tabletop corals ( Acropora hyacinthus ) from 39 patch reefs in Palau, and show two signals of genetic structure across reef scales from 1 to 55 km. First, divergent mitochondrial DNA haplotypes exist in different proportions from reef to reef, causing Phi ST values of 0.02 ( p = 0.02). Second, closely related sequences of mitochondrial Haplogroups are more likely to be co‐located on the same reefs than expected by chance alone. We also compared these sequences to prior data on 155 colonies from American Samoa. In these comparisons, many Haplogroups in Palau were disproportionately represented or absent in American Samoa, and inter‐regional Phi ST = 0.259. However, we saw three instances of identical mitochondrial genomes between locations. Together, these data sets suggest two features of coral dispersal revealed by occurrence patterns in highly similar mitochondrial genomes. First, the Palau‐American Samoa data suggest that long distance dispersal in corals is rare, as expected, but that it is common enough to deliver identical mitochondrial genomes across the Pacific. Second, higher than expected co‐occurrence of Haplogroups on the same Palau reefs suggests greater retention of coral larvae on local reefs than predicted by many current oceanographic models of larval movement. Increased attention to local scales of coral genetic structure, dispersal, and selection may help increase the accuracy of models of future adaptation of corals and of assisted migration as a reef resilience intervention.

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“…Importantly, this requires that coral reefs must be protected at local, regional, and global scales in ways that allow for the propagation of evolutionary adaptive traits (Colton et al , 2022 ). This can only be achieved through coordinated action by science, policy, and local stakeholders (Hoegh‐Guldberg et al , 2018 ; Kleypas et al , 2021 ).…”

Section: Securing a Future For Coral Reefsmentioning

confidence: 99%