Microbial Communities of Red Sea Coral Reefs

Neave, Matthew J.; Apprill, Amy; Aeby, Greta S.; Miyake, Sou; Voolstra, Christian R.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-05802-9_4

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 166 publications

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“…The Red Sea presents a unique combination of environmental variables that have previously been shown to shape the planktonic community (Kürten et al, , ; Ngugi, Antunes, Brune, & Stingl, ; Pearman et al, ; Pearman, Kurten, Sarma, Jones, & Carvalho, ) and the metazoan component of the reef cryptobiome (Carvalho et al, ). However, knowledge of the factors structuring the composition and function of bacterial communities within coral reefs remains limited (Roik et al, ; Neave et al, ). Interestingly, despite the 2,000 km latitudinal range investigated, drift as a result of dispersal limitation was not a substantial contributor to the structure of the bacterial communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, understanding how environmental perturbations will affect the functioning of coral reefs and the underlying microbial processes is vital for the management of these iconic ecosystems (Garren & Azam, ). Environmental gradients along the latitudinal extent of the Red Sea provide a natural laboratory to investigate how bacterial communities associated with coral reefs respond to environmental changes (Berumen et al,; Neave, Apprill, Aeby, Miyake, & Voolstra, ). However, progress has been partly hindered by the lack of a standardized and nondestructive tool to comprehensively investigate the complex microbial communities within coral reefs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disentangling the complex microbial community of coral reefs using standardized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS)

et al. 2019

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Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) have been applied worldwide to describe eukaryotic cryptic reef fauna. Conversely, bacterial communities, which are critical components of coral reef ecosystem functioning, remain largely overlooked. Here we deployed 56 ARMS across the 2,000‐km spread of the Red Sea to assay biodiversity, composition and inferred underlying functions of coral reef‐associated bacterial communities via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that bacterial community structure and diversity aligned with environmental differences. Indeed, sea surface temperature and macroalgae cover were key in explaining bacterial relative abundance. Importantly, taxonomic and functional alpha diversity decreased under more extreme environmental conditions (e.g., higher temperatures) in the southern Red Sea. This may imply a link between bacterial community diversity and functional capabilities, with implications for conservation management. Our study demonstrates the utility of ARMS to investigate the response of coral reef‐associated bacterial communities to environmental change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the complex microbial community of coral reefs using standardized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS)

et al. 2019

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“…Nevertheless, its ability to pulsate may allow it to reach higher energetic yields than other non-pulsating corals (Kremien et al, 2013). Altogether, diversity of P:R ratios among taxa may reflect the differential potential for species-specific tolerances towards stressors, where modulation strategies and coping mechanisms may highly vary and be dependent on the particular nature of the stressor and the available energetic budget of the coral holobiont (Pan, Applebaum & Manahan, 2015) in complement to its nutritional plasticity (Schubert, Brown & Rossi, 2016;Rossi et al, 2020;Conti-Jerpe et al, 2020), associated microbial community dynamics (Neave et al, 2019), and surrounding seawater conditions.…”

Section: Warming Temperatures Effects and Its Synergy With Docmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photosynthesis and respiration of the soft coral Xenia umbellata respond to warming but not to organic carbon eutrophication

Simancas-Giraldo

Xiang

Kennedy

et al. 2021

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Eutrophication with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) as a far under-investigated stressor, and ocean warming, can strongly affect coral reefs and hard corals as major reefs ecosystem engineers. However, no previous studies have investigated the metabolic responses of soft corals to DOC eutrophication, or its interaction with ocean warming. Thus, we investigated respiration and photosynthesis response of Xenia umbellata, a common mixotrophic soft coral from the Indo-pacific, to (1) three levels of DOC eutrophication simulated by glucose addition over the first 21 days of experiment and (2) ocean warming scenarios where the temperature was gradually increased from 26 °C (control condition) to 32 °C over another 24 days in an aquarium experiment. We found no significant difference in response to DOC treatments and all corals survived regardless of the DOC concentrations, whilst subsequent exposure to simulated ocean warming significantly decreased gross photosynthesis by approximately 50% at 30 °C, and 65% at 32 °C, net photosynthesis by 75% at 30 °C and 79% at 32 °C, and respiration by a maximum of 75% at 30 °C; with a slight increase at 32 °C of 25%. The ratio between gross photosynthesis and respiration decreased by the end of the warming period but remained similar between controls and colonies previously exposed to DOC. Our findings suggest that soft corals may be more resistant than hard corals to DOC eutrophication and in consequence, may potentially experiment in less magnitude the negative effects of increased temperature or subsequently both stressors. The results of this study may contribute to explain the successful role of soft corals in phase shifts as reported from many coral reefs. Where predicted declines in reef ecosystems health due to increased eutrophication levels can be exacerbated by future warming.

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“…Black band disease (BBD). BBD has been reported from coral reefs across the world [55] including the Red Sea [34,50]. BBD typically remains at low background levels [56,57] with seasonal outbreaks occurring [58][59][60].…”

Section: Overview Of Diseases Affecting Corals In the Red Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative baseline of coral disease in three regions along the Saudi Arabian coast of the central Red Sea

et al. 2021

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Coral disease is a growing problem for coral reefs globally and diseases have been linked to thermal stress, excess nutrients, overfishing and other human impacts. The Red Sea is a unique environment for corals with a strong environmental gradient characterized by temperature extremes and high salinities, but minimal terrestrial runoff or riverine input and their associated pollution. Yet, relatively little is known about coral diseases in this region. Disease surveys were conducted at 22 reefs within three regions (Yanbu, Thuwal, Al Lith) in the central Red Sea along the Saudi Arabian coast. Surveys occurred in October 2015, which coincided with a hyperthermal-induced bleaching event. Our objectives were to 1) document types, prevalence, and distribution of coral diseases in a region with minimal terrestrial input, 2) compare regional differences in diseases and bleaching along a latitudinal gradient of environmental conditions, and 3) use histopathology to characterize disease lesions at the cellular level. Coral reefs of the central Red Sea had a widespread but a surprisingly low prevalence of disease (<0.5%), based on the examination of >75,750 colonies. Twenty diseases were recorded affecting 16 coral taxa and included black band disease, white syndromes, endolithic hypermycosis, skeletal eroding band, growth anomalies and focal bleached patches. The three most common diseases were Acropora white syndrome (59.1% of the survey sites), Porites growth anomalies (40.9%), and Porites white syndrome (31.8%). Sixteen out of 30 coral genera within transects had lesions and Acropora, Millepora and Lobophyllia were the most commonly affected. Cell-associated microbial aggregates were found in four coral genera including a first report in Stylophora. Differences in disease prevalence, coral cover, amount of heat stress as measured by degree heating weeks (DHW) and extent of bleaching was evident among sites. Disease prevalence was not explained by coral cover or DHW, and a negative relationship between coral bleaching and disease prevalence was found. The northern-most sites off the coast of Yanbu had the highest average disease prevalence and highest average DHW values but no bleaching. Our study provides a foundation and baseline data for coral disease prevalence in the central Red Sea, which is projected to increase as a consequence of increased frequency and severity of ocean warming.

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Microbial Communities of Red Sea Coral Reefs

Cited by 11 publications

References 166 publications

Disentangling the complex microbial community of coral reefs using standardized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS)

Disentangling the complex microbial community of coral reefs using standardized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS)

Photosynthesis and respiration of the soft coral Xenia umbellata respond to warming but not to organic carbon eutrophication

A comparative baseline of coral disease in three regions along the Saudi Arabian coast of the central Red Sea

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