Genetic variation in responses to a settlement cue and elevated temperature in the reef-building coral Acropora millepora

Meyer, Eli; Davies, Sarah W.; Wang, Shi; Willis, Bette L.; Abrego, David; Juenger, Thomas E.; Matz, Mikhail V.

doi:10.3354/meps08208

Cited by 105 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Csaszar et al (2010) estimated broad-sense heritabilities of symbiont, host and holobiont traits in adult A. millepora. Contrary to the results of Meyer et al (2009), they report primarily nonsignificant heritabilities for host antioxidant gene expression (Csaszar et al, 2010). However, reported heritabilities for symbiont and holobiont traits are almost all significant and H 2 estimates for growth range from 0.19 to 0.59 (Csaszar et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 47%

“…The measured value (0.28) is larger that the value estimated based on among-families variation, possibly reflecting higher power of the regression analysis. Meyer et al (2009) used a diallel crossing design to evaluate the contribution of additive genetic variance to variation in a suite of traits under thermal stress in aposymbiotic larval families of Acropora millepora. They found that larval settlement rates and expression of a small heat shock protein (ßγ-crystallin) both had significant additive genetic components of 0.49 and 0.38, respectively (Meyer et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meyer et al (2009) used a diallel crossing design to evaluate the contribution of additive genetic variance to variation in a suite of traits under thermal stress in aposymbiotic larval families of Acropora millepora. They found that larval settlement rates and expression of a small heat shock protein (ßγ-crystallin) both had significant additive genetic components of 0.49 and 0.38, respectively (Meyer et al, 2009). A later study on the same species reports a similar estimate, with additive parental effects explaining 47% of the variance in larval settlement (Kenkel et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Heritable differences in fitness-related traits among populations of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides

2015

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A population's potential for rapid evolutionary adaptation can be estimated from the amount of genetic variation in fitnessrelated traits. Inshore populations of the mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides) have been shown to be more tolerant to thermal stress than offshore populations, but it is unclear whether this difference is due to long-term physiological acclimatization or genetic adaptation. Here, we evaluated variation in growth rate and survival among 38 families of juvenile recruits of P. astreoides spawned by colonies originating from inshore and offshore locations. Recruits were reared in a common garden for 5 weeks and then subjected to two thermal treatments (28 and 31°C) for 2.5 weeks. The most significant effects were detected during the first 5 weeks, before thermal stress was applied: 27-30% of variance in growth and 94% of variance in recruit survival was attributable to parental effects. Genotyping of eight microsatellite loci indicated that the high early mortality of some of the recruit families was not due to higher inbreeding. Post treatment, parental effects diminished such that only 10-15% of variance in growth rate was explained, which most likely reflects the dissipation of maternal effects. However, offshore-origin recruits still grew significantly less under elevated temperature compared with inshore-origin recruits. These differences observed in naive juvenile corals suggest that population-level variation in fitness in response to different thermal environments has a genetic basis and could represent raw material for natural selection in times of climate change.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 47%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Heritable differences in fitness-related traits among populations of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides

2015

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“…Once the capacity for acclimatization has been exceeded, any further gains in thermal tolerance require adaptation through the selection of tolerant genetic variants. The amount of functional genetic variation in thermal tolerance available within coral species and Symbiodinium types for selection to act upon is largely unknown (but see Meyer et al 2009, Csa´sza´r et al 2010, van Oppen et al 2011. However, restrictions to gene flow are expected to have enhanced adaptive divergence among populations across large spatial scales (van Oppen and Gates 2006), and, indeed, regional differences in thermal limits observed following short periods of experimental acclimation suggest that some populations have adapted to their local thermal environments (Coles et al 1976, Ulstrup et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical thermal regimes define limits to coral acclimatization

Howells

Berkelmans

Oppen

et al. 2013

Ecology

152

166

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Abstract. Knowledge of the degree to which corals undergo physiological acclimatization or genetic adaptation in response to changes in their thermal environment is crucial to the success of coral reef conservation strategies. The potential of corals to acclimatize to temperatures exceeding historical thermal regimes was investigated by reciprocal transplantation of Acropora millepora colonies between the warm central and cool southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) for a duration of 14 months. Colony fragments retained at native sites remained healthy, whereas transplanted fragments, although healthy over initial months when temperatures remained within native thermal regimes, subsequently bleached and suffered mortality during seasonal temperature extremes. Corals hosting Symbiodinium D transplanted to the southern GBR bleached in winter and the majority suffered whole (40%; n ¼ 20 colonies) or partial (50%) mortality at temperatures 1.18C below their 15-year native minimum. In contrast, corals hosting Symbiodinium C2 transplanted to the central GBR bleached in summer and suffered whole (50%; n ¼ 10 colonies) or partial (42%) mortality at temperatures 2.58C above their 15-year native maximum. During summer bleaching, the dominant Symbiodinium type changed from C2 to D within corals transplanted to the central GBR. Corals transplanted to the cooler, southern GBR grew 74-80% slower than corals at their native site, and only 50% of surviving colonies reproduced, at least partially because of cold water bleaching of transplants. Despite the absence of any visual signs of stress, corals transplanted to the warmer, central GBR grew 52-59% more slowly than corals at their native site before the summer bleaching (i.e., from autumn to spring). Allocation of energy to initial acclimatization or reproduction may explain this pattern, as the majority (65%) of transplants reproduced one month earlier than portions of the same colonies retained at the southern native site. All parameters investigated (bleaching, mortality, Symbiodinium type fidelity, reproductive timing) demonstrated strong interactions between genotype and environment, indicating that the acclimatization potential of A. millepora populations may be limited by adaptation of the holobiont to native thermal regimes.

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“…anemones (Shick et al 1979, Shick 1991, or jellyfish (Mayer 1914, Arai 1997. More recently, reef-building corals have been used as experimental models to quantify the genetic components that underlie variation in temperature responses (Meyer et al 2009, Császár et al 2010, providing insight into the adaptability of natural populations. N. vectensis is a useful and complementary cnidarian model system for investigating temperature adaptation for several reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological and developmental responses to temperature by the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

Reitzel¹,

Chu²,

Edquist³

et al. 2013

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Environmental temperature and an organism's ability to respond to it are critical determinants of the geographic distribution of species. Nematostella vectensis is a burrowing sea anemone that inhabits estuaries along the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia (45°N) to Georgia (31°N). Like other estuarine species, N. vectensis is exposed to large daily (> 20°C) and seasonal (> 25°C) fluctuations in temperature, requiring wide temperature tolerances. At the same time, the natural distribution of this species spans a pronounced thermal cline, which may promote the evolution of different temperature optima and tolerances in populations. We tested the thermal tolerance of N. vectensis adult and developmental stages, which showed all life cycle stages had critical temperatures within 1°C (lethal temperature 39.5 to 40.5°C). When temperature tolerance values were compared with recorded field data, N. vectensis is living in environments very close to their physiological limit. We utilized common garden experiments (13, 21, and 29°C) to test for temperature-specific growth and regeneration rates in N. vectensis from different portions of this species' range. Temperature had a significant effect on growth and regeneration rate in all clonal lines, with a significant negative relationship between latitude of origin and growth rate at 29°C. Individuals from higher latitudes did not exhibit higher growth rates at cooler temperatures. Together, our results show a combination of broad thermal tolerances for developmental and adult stages and evidence for local adaptation to higher temperatures in populations living in lower latitude locations that would be physiologically compromised with future warming.

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Genetic variation in responses to a settlement cue and elevated temperature in the reef-building coral Acropora millepora

Cited by 105 publications

References 72 publications

Heritable differences in fitness-related traits among populations of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides

Heritable differences in fitness-related traits among populations of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides

Historical thermal regimes define limits to coral acclimatization

Physiological and developmental responses to temperature by the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis

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