Differences in Growth and Calcification Rates in the Reef-Building Coral Porites lobata: The Implications of Morphotype and Gender on Coral Growth

Abstract

Corals display different growth forms as an adaptive response to both local and global environmental conditions. Despite the importance of morphologic variability on corals, growth and calcification rates of different coral morphotypes have been poorly recorded in the Eastern Pacific. The purpose of this study was to compare annual extension rate (cm yr −1 ), skeletal density (g cm −3 ), calcification rate (g cm −2 yr −1 ), and tissue thickness (mm) of males and females colonies in three different morphotypes of the common reef-building coral Porites lobata; columnar, massive, and free-living (corallith) forms. The results show significant differences in all four-growth parameters between morphotypes over a 6-year interval, and also differences between males and females in most morphotypes. Massive colonies presented 15-33% faster annual rates compared with columnar and free-living. Male colonies showed 30-40% faster annual rates than females for both columnar and corallith morphologies. These data exhibit the extensive plasticity of this species and highlight the fact that each morphotype × gender group produced a different physiological response to environmental conditions. Therefore, these information reveal that P. lobata from the Eastern Tropical Pacific develops different morphologies to allow it to maintain coral species population, characteristics that enhance the species possibility to further its distribution across the reef-framework.

Evidence of sexual dimorphism in skeletal morphology of a gonochoric reef coral

“…In addition, following studies should be directed to address the environmental effect in the morphology of the corallites, as the diameters are apparently larger in northern areas of the Gulf of California, possibly as a response to a combination of low irradiance and high Chl-a concentration Finally, it is important to recall that according to the findings of this study, sex identification of collected material lacking tissue would enable more precise analyses of coral growth parameters and their associated palaeoclimatic reconstructions (e.g. use of stable isotopes in coral skeletons) by avoiding the implicit data variability of non-sex-separated samples as mentioned in previous studies [4][5][6][7].…”

“…Sexual dimorphism in morphological traits was found in this study. Evidence of different growth rates and the hypothesis of different energetic demands between male and female colonies in gonochoric [4][5][6][7] led us to test and confirm the sexual dimorphism in morphological traits at corallite level. Considering this, density (corallites cm −2 ), corallite diameter and neighbouring corallites can be used to identify sexes in P. panamensis colonies.…”

“…There are examples in marine invertebrates, such as molluscs and echinoderms [1][2][3], but little is known about this condition in scleractinian corals. Recent studies in the gonochoric corals, Porites panamensis [4], Porites lobata [5], Montastraea cavernosa [6] and Siderastrea siderea [7], found that growth rates (i.e. extension, calcification and density) are significantly higher in 2018 The Authors.…”

Innovative Material Can Mimic Coral and Boulder Reefs Properties

“…The CPE is a reef building coral and includes different species growing in tropical waters. It is reported that it grows its skeleton about the central axis between 0.3 and 1.2 cm/y in average, depending on location, climate and colony type (Elizalde-Rendon et al, 2010;Neviaty et al, 2016;Tortolero-Langarica José de Jesús et al, 2016).…”

Sexual dimorphism in a broadcast spawning coral, Porites lobata

“…, sometimes diminishing other processes such as skeletal extension and calci cation(Cabral-Tena et al 2013;Tortolero-Langarica et al 2016, 2017. While reproductive output increases with polyp size, the ratio of reproductive output to somatic tissue decreases with a higher polyp diameter(Leuzinger et al 2003).…”