Plasticity in skeletal characteristics of nursery-raised staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis

Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Bartels, Erich; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Enochs, Ian C.; Kolodziej, Graham; Toth, Lauren T.; Manzello, Derek P.

doi:10.1007/s00338-017-1560-2

Cited by 43 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Data collection methods were identical between these studies. Mean colony growth on the fixed structures (0.15 ± 0.02 SE cm/day) was similar to the suspended colonies of this study (0.17 ± 0.01 cm/day) and was dramatically greater than other published fixed nursery colony growth rates (Lirman et al ; Kuffner et al ; O'Donnell et al ). These results may be a function of specific environmental factors associated with our fixed nursery location or general environmental factors driving faster growth rates in this region (Bliss ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Suspended colony growth rates in this study were comparable to growth rates on traditional fixed nursery structures in Broward County (Larson ), which contrasts the significantly faster growth on floating than fixed structures found by others (Lirman et al ; Kuffner et al ; O'Donnell et al ). Three years prior to this project (2007), the same three genotypes were raised in a fixed structure nursery approximately 1 km away on the nearshore hardbottom in a depth of 5.5 m for 1 year (Larson ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

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Genotype and attachment technique influence the growth and survival of line nursery corals

Goergen

Ostroff

Gilliam

2017

Restoration Ecology

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The Caribbean staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, was once a dominant habitat creating coral, but its populations have declined dramatically in recent decades. Numerous restoration efforts now utilize coral gardening techniques to cultivate this species, growing colonies on fixed structures or from line/suspended nurseries. Line nurseries have become increasingly popular because of their small footprint and ease of use, replacing fixed structures in many nurseries. To evaluate the efficacy of the line technique, this study evaluated growth, condition, and survivorship of A. cervicornis nursery colonies of three distinct genotypes grown via two line nursery techniques (suspended and direct line attachment [vertical]). Direct line attachment of nursery colonies resulted in poor survival (43%) and growth (9.5 ± 1.33 cm/year), whereas suspended culture had 100% survival and increased growth (61.1 ± 4.19 cm/year). Suspended culture had significantly reduced disease prevalence and prevented colony predation. Suspended coral growth was also comparable to a neighboring fixed structure nursery (55.2 ± 7.86 cm/year), and found to be as effective in propagating corals as fixed structures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Genotype and attachment technique influence the growth and survival of line nursery corals

Goergen

Ostroff

Gilliam

2017

Restoration Ecology

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“…Linear extension was significantly different among colonies (analysis of variance: F4,45 = 17.36, p < 0.001) as a result of significantly faster extension rates in NK1 and significantly lower extension rates in B4 compared with the other colonies (Tukey HSD test: p < 0.05). A number of factors may potentially influence the growth of individual coral colonies, including water flow (Kuffner, ), light availability (Juillet‐Leclerc et al, ), genetic differences among colonies (Kuffner, Bartels, et al, ), and variable endosymbiont associations (Little et al, ). The areas of Pulaski Shoal and North Key where the corals were collected are approximately 5 km apart and the corals growing at North Key grew in deeper (~0.7 m on average) water (Hickey et al, ; Weinzierl et al, ), so they could be influenced by different fine‐scale oceanographic conditions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Uncertainty in Sr/Ca‐Based Estimates of SST From the Coral Orbicella faveolata

Flannery

Richey

Toth

et al. 2018

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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The strontium to calcium ratio (Sr/Ca) in aragonitic skeletons of massive corals provides a proxy for sea surface temperature (SST) that can be used to reconstruct paleoclimates across decades, centuries, and, potentially, millennia. Determining the reproducibility of Sr/Ca records among contemporaneous coral colonies from the same region is critical to quantifying uncertainties associated with the Sr/Ca‐SST proxy. We evaluated both intracolony and intercolony variability in Sr/Ca using five modern colonies of Orbicella faveolata collected live from the Dry Tortugas National Park, FL. We regressed all available Sr/Ca‐SST data pairs from the five O. faveolata colonies against the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer gridded SST data set to produce a new Sr/Ca‐SST calibration equation (Sr/Ca = −0.049 × SST + 10.460), which we suggest can be applied to O. faveolata colonies collected throughout the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean region. We estimated total uncertainty by calculating the root‐mean‐square of the intracolony, intercolony, and analytical error terms. Our (1σ) uncertainty estimates of 0.082 mmol/mol (1.66 °C) for subannual Sr/Ca‐SST and 0.070 mmol/mol (1.43 °C) for mean annual Sr/Ca‐SST represent conservative error terms that can be applied to individual data points in single‐colony Sr/Ca‐SST reconstructions. We illustrate how these uncertainties can be significantly reduced by generating multicolony reconstructions and/or through replication of sampling within individual coral colonies. Although the uncertainties on absolute Sr/Ca‐based SST are likely too large to allow researchers to evaluate subdecadal temperature variability, we show that the O. faveolata paleothermometer can reliably detect changes of ~2 °C across decadal timescales and ~1 °C over multidecadal timescales.

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“…For example, genotype significantly affects natural bleaching rate (Bowden‐Kerby & Carne, ; Drury, Manzello, & Lirman, ; Lohr & Patterson, ; Muller, Bartels, & Baums, ), and post‐bleaching mortality (Grasso, ; Ladd, Shantz, Bartels, & Burkepile, ). A variety of other important parameters are also influenced by coral genotype, including calcification (Enochs et al, ; Kuffner et al, ), disease resistance (Libro & Vollmer, ; Muller et al, ; Vollmer & Kline, ), growth (Bowden‐Kerby & Carne, ; Drury, Manzello, et al, ; Gold & Palumbi, ; Ladd et al, ; Lirman et al, ; Lohr, Bejarano, Lirman, Schopmeyer, & Manfrino, ; Lohr & Patterson, ; O'Donnell, Lohr, Bartels, & Patterson, ), metabolic rate (Cole, Finch, Hintz, Hintz, & Allison, ), photophysiology (D'Croz & Maté, ), skeletal morphology (Bruno & Edmunds, ), and bleaching in wild corals (Thomas & Palumbi, ). These studies are important because they illustrate the natural variation present within populations and that it can be driven by the host, providing the raw material for adaptive change.…”

Section: Fixed Host Effects Contribute To Thermal Tolerancementioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience in reef‐building corals: The ecological and evolutionary importance of the host response to thermal stress

Drury

2020

Molecular Ecology

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Coral reefs are under extreme threat due to a number of stressors, but temperature increases due to changing climate are the most severe. Rising ocean temperatures coupled with local extremes lead to extensive bleaching, where the coral‐algal symbiosis breaks down and corals may die, compromising the structure and function of reefs. Although the symbiotic nature of the coral colony has historically been a focus of research on coral resilience, the host itself is a foundational component in the response to thermal stress. Fixed effects in the coral host set trait baselines through evolutionary processes, acting on many loci of small effect to create mosaics of thermal tolerance across latitudes and individual coral reefs. These genomic differences can be strongly heritable, producing wide variation among clones of different genotypes or families of a specific larval cross. Phenotypic plasticity is overlaid on these baselines and a growing body of knowledge demonstrates the potential for acclimatization of reef‐building corals through a variety of mechanisms that promote resilience and stress tolerance. The long‐term persistence of coral reefs will require many of these mechanisms to adjust to warmer temperatures within a generation, bridging the gap to reproductive events that allow recombination of standing diversity and adaptive change. Business‐as‐usual climate scenarios will probably lead to the loss of some coral populations or species in the future, so the interaction between intragenerational effects and evolutionary pressure is critical for the survival of reefs.

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Plasticity in skeletal characteristics of nursery-raised staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis

Cited by 43 publications

References 20 publications

Genotype and attachment technique influence the growth and survival of line nursery corals

Genotype and attachment technique influence the growth and survival of line nursery corals

Quantifying Uncertainty in Sr/Ca‐Based Estimates of SST From the Coral Orbicella faveolata

Resilience in reef‐building corals: The ecological and evolutionary importance of the host response to thermal stress

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