Moderate nutrient concentrations are not detrimental to corals under future ocean conditions

Dobson, Kerri L.; Levas, Stephen; Schoepf, Verena; Warner, Mark E.; Cai, Wei‐Jun; Hoadley, Kenneth D.; Yuan, Xiangchen; Matsui, Yohei; Melman, Todd F.; Grottoli, Andréa G.

doi:10.1007/s00227-021-03901-3

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Such a situation is known to be detrimental to coral growth and health in many branching species [ 14 , 17 , 19 , 22 , 28 ], in particular under thermal stress [ 16 ]. No physiological changes were measured in T. reniformis during this relatively short-term incubation with DIN enrichment, as previously observed [ 25 , 57 , 58 ]. The results might have been different for a long-term enrichment incubation or if a thermal stress had been applied.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Species-Specific Response of Corals to Imbalanced Ratios of Inorganic Nutrients

Blanckaert

Biscéré

Grover

et al. 2023

IJMS

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Dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) is a limiting nutrient in the physiology of scleractinian corals. Anthropogenic addition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) to coastal reefs increases the seawater DIN:DIP ratio and further increases P limitation, which is detrimental to coral health. The effects of imbalanced DIN:DIP ratios on coral physiology require further investigation in coral species other than the most studied branching corals. Here we investigated the nutrient uptake rates, elemental tissue composition and physiology of a foliose stony coral, Turbinaria reniformis, and a soft coral, Sarcophyton glaucum, exposed to four different DIN: DIP ratios (0.5:0.2, 0.5:1, 3:0.2, 3:1). The results show that T. reniformis had high uptake rates of DIN and DIP, proportional to the seawater nutrient concentrations. DIN enrichment alone led to an increase in tissue N content, shifting the tissue N:P ratio towards P limitation. However, S. glaucum had 5 times lower uptake rates and only took up DIN when the seawater was simultaneously enriched with DIP. This double uptake of N and P did not alter tissue stoichiometry. This study allows us to better understand the susceptibility of corals to changes in the DIN:DIP ratio and predict how coral species will respond under eutrophic conditions in the reef.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Species-Specific Response of Corals to Imbalanced Ratios of Inorganic Nutrients

Blanckaert

Biscéré

Grover

et al. 2023

IJMS

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“…Nutrients have been also reported to increase disease prevalence (Vega Thurber et al 2013), and disrupt corals' associated microbial communities, altering the cycling of nutrients among the coral host and their symbionts (Rädecker et al 2015) and promoting the proliferation of opportunistic or pathogenic microbes (Vega Thurber et al 2009). However, the effects of nutrient enrichment on corals are not always negative and can vary by coral species (Fox et al 2021;Palacio-Castro et al 2021), nutrient levels (D'Angelo et al 2014;Dobson et al 2021), nutrient source (Burkepile et al 2019), exposure time (Fabricius 2005), and the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus availability (Ferrier-Pagès et al 2000;Rosset et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbiome signatures in Acropora cervicornis are associated with genotypic resistance to elevated nutrients and heat stress

et al. 2022

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The staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, was once abundant in the Caribbean, but now is listed as critically endangered. To recover A. cervicornis populations, restoration efforts have focused on preserving genetic diversity and increasing coral cover. However, identifying stress-resistant corals can help to increase restoration success, by allocating genotypes to reefs where they are more likely to survive. We assessed the performance (growth, survivorship, and photochemical efficiency) and characterized the microbiome (prokaryotes) of six A. cervicornis genotypes that were maintained at control temperatures (~26 °C) and either ambient nutrients or elevated nutrients (elevated NH 4 , and elevated NH 4 + PO 4 ) for > 2 months. We then compared how these parameters changed when the corals were exposed to heat-stress (3-weeks at ~31.5 °C). We found that exposure to elevated nutrients reduced A. cervicornis performance under control temperatures and heat stress. However, there was a wide range of variation among genotypes, with three genotypes maintaining relatively higher survivorship and growth rates when exposed to nutrients alone, and nutrients followed by heat stress. Heat stress alone changed the microbial composition among genotypes more than elevated nutrients alone, but heat stress also interacted with nutrient pre-exposure to affect microbial communities. The relative abundance of Midichloriaceae and Spirochaetaceae varied by coral genotype and a high abundance of these bacterial taxa was a positive predictor of coral survivorship rate, suggesting a microbial signature that could aid in identifying resistant A. cervicornis genotypes. Our findings suggest there is significant variation among genotypes in the response of A. cervicornis to elevated nutrients and temperatures. Resistant genotypes may be identifiable via their microbiomes and prioritized for outplanting at sites characterized by high levels of nutrient pollution. Large-scale microbiome screening may help expedite targeted outplanting and could be tested and extended to facilitate the identification of genotypes with other resistance characteristics.1 .

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“…It is well known that moderately rich nutritional conditions promote the growth of Symbiodiniaceae and increase their density, and ammonium (NH 4 + ) is the preferred inorganic nitrogen source for algal symbionts (Ezzat et al., 2015). Both terrestrial input and upwelling can increase the concentration of dissolved inorganic nutrients in coastal areas (Dobson et al., 2021; Zhu et al., 2022b), which explains why in this study the Symbiodiniaceae density of the upwelling zone was higher but not significantly higher. Symbiont density and Symbiodiniaceae type are related to the ability of the coral hosts to produce energy, and higher Symbiodiniaceae density is beneficial to maintaining the coral hosts and storing energy substances in the form of lipids or proteins (Jung et al., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Coastal Upwelling Under Anthropogenic Influence Drives the Community Change, Assembly Process, and Co‐Occurrence Pattern of Coral Associated Microorganisms

et al. 2023

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Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and valuable marine ecosystems in the world, and they provide a variety of ecosystem products and services (Spalding et al., 2017). Unfortunately, over the past few decades, coral reefs have been facing major threats regionally and globally due to natural and anthropogenic influences (Hughes et al., 2017;Spalding et al., 2017). Marine heat waves due to global warming have repeatedly caused mass bleaching events, and seriously threaten the survival of coral reefs worldwide (Hughes et al., 2018). Fortunately, upwelling zones may provide temporary and localized climate-change refugia for corals that experience marine thermal anomalies with rising frequency and intensity (West & Salm, 2003). Studies have shown that small-scale local upwelling may reduce the impact of thermal stress on coral reefs, as it can offset lethal heating and create

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Moderate nutrient concentrations are not detrimental to corals under future ocean conditions

Cited by 16 publications

References 92 publications

Species-Specific Response of Corals to Imbalanced Ratios of Inorganic Nutrients

Species-Specific Response of Corals to Imbalanced Ratios of Inorganic Nutrients

Microbiome signatures in Acropora cervicornis are associated with genotypic resistance to elevated nutrients and heat stress

Coastal Upwelling Under Anthropogenic Influence Drives the Community Change, Assembly Process, and Co‐Occurrence Pattern of Coral Associated Microorganisms

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