Thermal stress reveals a genotype-specific tradeoff between growth and tissue loss in restored Acropora cervicornis

Ladd, Mark C.; Shantz, Andrew A.; Bartels, Erich; Burkepile, Deron E.

doi:10.3354/meps12169

Cited by 47 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…) and trade‐offs between desirable traits, such as growth and thermal tolerance, may occur (Ladd et al. ). Thus, maintaining phenotypic diversity in outplant populations is essential.…”

Section: Choosing Coral Colonies For Restoration: Who and From Where?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) and growth rates are often not correlated with survival (Ladd et al. ). However, there is evidence that calcification rate may be genetically influenced and therefore represents a good measure of genet performance, whereas linear extension rate and skeletal density vary with environmental conditions (Kuffner et al.…”

Section: Choosing Coral Colonies For Restoration: Who and From Where?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Ladd et al. ). Importantly, infectious disease prevalence and the frequency and severity of bleaching events are expected to increase over the coming century (Miller et al.…”

Section: Choosing Coral Colonies For Restoration: Who and From Where?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Considerations for maximizing the adaptive potential of restored coral populations in the western Atlantic

Baums

Baker

Davies

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

187

198

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Active coral restoration typically involves two interventions: crossing gametes to facilitate sexual larval propagation; and fragmenting, growing, and outplanting adult colonies to enhance asexual propagation. From an evolutionary perspective, the goal of these efforts is to establish self-sustaining, sexually reproducing coral populations that have sufficient genetic and phenotypic variation to adapt to changing environments. Here, we provide concrete guidelines to help restoration practitioners meet this goal for most Caribbean species of interest. To enable the persistence of coral populations exposed to severe selection pressure from many stressors, a mixed provenance strategy is suggested: genetically unique colonies (genets) should be sourced both locally as well as from more distant, environmentally distinct sites. Sourcing three to four genets per reef along environmental gradients should be sufficient to capture a majority of intraspecies genetic diversity. It is best for practitioners to propagate genets with one or more phenotypic traits that are predicted to be valuable in the future, such as low partial mortality, high wound healing rate, high skeletal growth rate, bleaching resilience, infectious disease resilience, and high sexual reproductive output. Some effort should also be reserved for underperforming genets because colonies that grow poorly in nurseries sometimes thrive once returned to the reef and may harbor genetic variants with as yet unrecognized value. Outplants should be clustered in groups of four to six genets to enable successful fertilization upon maturation. Current evidence indicates that translocating genets among distant reefs is unlikely to be problematic from a population genetic perspective but will likely provide substantial adaptive benefits. Similarly, inbreeding depression is not a concern given that current practices only raise first-generation offspring. Thus, proceeding with the proposed management strategies even in the absence of a detailed population genetic analysis of the focal species at sites targeted for restoration is the best course of action. These basic guidelines should help maximize the adaptive potential of reef-building corals facing a rapidly changing environment.

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“…) and trade‐offs between desirable traits, such as growth and thermal tolerance, may occur (Ladd et al. ). Thus, maintaining phenotypic diversity in outplant populations is essential.…”

Section: Choosing Coral Colonies For Restoration: Who and From Where?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Choosing Coral Colonies For Restoration: Who and From Where?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Considerations for maximizing the adaptive potential of restored coral populations in the western Atlantic

Baums

Baker

Davies

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

187

198

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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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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“…For example, at sites frequently impacted by thermal stress, preferentially selecting corals outplanted for restoration based on genotypes known to exhibit high thermal tolerance could better prepare the site for future thermal anomalies (Ladd et al . ). Likewise, matching coral traits with prevailing environmental conditions at a restoration site could maximize the chances of survival, thereby improving restoration effectiveness and efficiency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Harnessing ecological processes to facilitate coral restoration

Ladd

Miller

Hunt

et al. 2018

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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Incorporating ecological processes into restoration planning is increasingly recognized as a fundamental component of successful restoration strategies. We outline a scientific framework to advance the emerging field of coral restoration. We advocate for harnessing ecological processes that drive community dynamics on coral reefs in a way that facilitates the establishment and growth of restored corals. Drawing on decades of coral reef ecology research and lessons learned from the restoration of other ecosystems, we posit that restoration practitioners can control factors such as the density, diversity, and identity of transplanted corals; site selection; and transplant design to restore positive feedback processes – or to disrupt negative feedback processes – in order to improve restoration success. Ultimately, we argue that coral restoration should explicitly incorporate key natural processes to exploit dynamic ecological forces and drive recovery of coral reef ecosystems.

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Thermal stress reveals a genotype-specific tradeoff between growth and tissue loss in restored Acropora cervicornis

Cited by 47 publications

References 52 publications

Considerations for maximizing the adaptive potential of restored coral populations in the western Atlantic

Considerations for maximizing the adaptive potential of restored coral populations in the western Atlantic

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

Harnessing ecological processes to facilitate coral restoration

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