Unique combinations of coral host and algal symbiont genotypes reflect intraspecific variation in heat stress responses among colonies of the reef-building coral, Montipora digitata

Kavousi, Javid; Denis, Vianney; Sharp, Victoria; Reimer, James Davis; Nakamura, Takashi; Parkinson, John Everett

doi:10.1007/s00227-019-3632-z

Cited by 23 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…Yet, sometimes even adjacent conspecifics hosting the same symbiont species show dramatic differences in bleaching [16,33], indicating that thermal tolerance varies at the individual level, determined by the genotype of the coral host, its symbionts or their interaction [34]. Through this complexity, there is clear evidence that the heat tolerance of individual corals varies significantly [13,[35][36][37][38][39]; however, we still lack robust, quantitative descriptions of this phenotype and the factors underlying its variation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Census of heat tolerance among Florida's threatened staghorn corals finds resilient individuals throughout existing nursery populations

et al. 2021

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The rapid loss of reef-building corals owing to ocean warming is driving the development of interventions such as coral propagation and restoration, selective breeding and assisted gene flow. Many of these interventions target naturally heat-tolerant individuals to boost climate resilience, but the challenges of quickly and reliably quantifying heat tolerance and identifying thermotolerant individuals have hampered implementation. Here, we used coral bleaching automated stress systems to perform rapid, standardized heat tolerance assays on 229 colonies of Acropora cervicornis across six coral nurseries spanning Florida's Coral Reef, USA. Analysis of heat stress dose–response curves for each colony revealed a broad range in thermal tolerance among individuals (approx. 2.5°C range in F v /F m ED50), with highly reproducible rankings across independent tests ( r = 0.76). Most phenotypic variation occurred within nurseries rather than between them, pointing to a potentially dominant role of fixed genetic effects in setting thermal tolerance and widespread distribution of tolerant individuals throughout the population. The identification of tolerant individuals provides immediately actionable information to optimize nursery and restoration programmes for Florida's threatened staghorn corals. This work further provides a blueprint for future efforts to identify and source thermally tolerant corals for conservation interventions worldwide.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Census of heat tolerance among Florida's threatened staghorn corals finds resilient individuals throughout existing nursery populations

et al. 2021

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“…By 2017, bleaching severity had increased; the most likely reason behind less severe bleaching at H-E compared to other sites is that the majority of the coral colonies that were vulnerable to global warming-induced bleaching died and the most tolerant colonies survived. Such huge intercolonial differences in given coral populations facing thermal stress are abundant [58,59].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four consecutive coral bleaching events in the Northern Persian Gulf: 2014–2017

Kavousi¹,

Tavakoli-Kolour²,

Hazraty-Kari³

et al. 2021

Ann Mar Sci

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Climate change-induced bleaching is a serious threat to coral reefs worldwide. In recent years, the number of repeated extensive bleaching events has increased globally. Here, we present four consecutive bleaching events and post-bleaching mortalities from four sites on Hormuz and Larak Islands, Iran, in the Persian Gulf from 2014 to 2017. The high thermotolerance of the corals and their endosymbiotic algae and the strong water currents and sites' turbidity could not protect the majority of the corals against bleaching. Back-to-back bleaching events left almost no unbleached coral colony at any site by 2017. Despite that, coral mortality did not increase at the sites of Hormuz Island that may be a sign of the fast recovery of the Persian Gulf corals after each bleaching event. However, the abundance of coral colonies with 81%-100% mortality at the sites of Larak Island that was constantly minimal in the fi rst three years signifi cantly increased in 2017. Considering bleaching and mortality responses, and abundance dynamics of the coral genera at the study sites, it seems that Dipsastraea at the southwest of Larak Island was a short-term winner; despite facing widespread moderate bleaching (i.e., < 50 of a colony was bleached) in 2014-2016, it managed to signifi cantly increase its population in 2015 and 2016. However, in 2017, when almost all colonies were severely bleached (i.e., > 50 of a colony was bleached), there was a non-signifi cant 27% reduction in its abundance. Dipsastraea at the north of Larak Island also survived in the fi rst three years, but > 66% of its colonies showed 81%-100% mortality in 2017. Such fi ndings warn that the aforementioned successes by corals are unlikely to persist under annual severe bleaching as is predicted for coming decades.

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“…As a result, although S. pistillata still existed on the reef, the symbiosis diversity within S. pistillata was reduced (Sampayo et al, 2008). Likewise, in the coral Montipora digitata genotypic variability in both the host coral and Symbiodiniaceae led to differential stress susceptibility between coral holobionts (Kavousi et al, 2020).…”

Section: Is Fidelity Absolute or Context Dependent?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Change Leads to a Reduction in Symbiotic Derived Cnidarian Biodiversity on Coral Reefs

Goulet

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Symbiotic relationships enable partners to thrive and survive in habitats where they would either not be as successful, or potentially not exist, without the symbiosis. The coral reef ecosystem, and its immense biodiversity, relies on the symbioses between cnidarians (e.g., scleractinian corals, octocorals, sea anemones, jellyfish) and multiple organisms including dinoflagellate algae (family Symbiodiniaceae), bivalves, crabs, shrimps, and fishes. In this review, we discuss the ramifications of whether coral reef cnidarian symbioses are obligatory, whereby at least one of the partners must be in the symbiosis in order to survive or are facultative. Furthermore, we cover the consequences of cnidarian symbioses exhibiting partner flexibility or fidelity. Fidelity, where a symbiotic partner can only engage in symbiosis with a subset of partners, may be absolute or context dependent. Current literature demonstrates that many cnidarian symbioses are highly obligative and appear to exhibit absolute fidelity. Consequently, for many coral reef cnidarian symbioses, surviving changing environmental conditions will depend on the robustness and potential plasticity of the existing host-symbiont(s) combination. If environmental conditions detrimentally affect even one component of this symbiotic consortium, it may lead to a cascade effect and the collapse of the entire symbiosis. Symbiosis is at the heart of the coral reef ecosystem, its existence, and its high biodiversity. Climate change may cause the demise of some of the cnidarian symbioses, leading to subsequent reduction in biodiversity on coral reefs.

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Unique combinations of coral host and algal symbiont genotypes reflect intraspecific variation in heat stress responses among colonies of the reef-building coral, Montipora digitata

Cited by 23 publications

References 89 publications

Census of heat tolerance among Florida's threatened staghorn corals finds resilient individuals throughout existing nursery populations

Census of heat tolerance among Florida's threatened staghorn corals finds resilient individuals throughout existing nursery populations

Four consecutive coral bleaching events in the Northern Persian Gulf: 2014–2017

Climate Change Leads to a Reduction in Symbiotic Derived Cnidarian Biodiversity on Coral Reefs

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