Cryptic speciation in the stony octocoral Heliopora coerulea: temporal reproductive isolation between two growth forms

Villanueva, Ronald D.

doi:10.1007/s12526-015-0376-y

Cited by 22 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The term living fossil has however, largely been abandoned because it does not reflect the genetic evolution within an organism 16 , 17 . No study has tested genetic structure across the entire range of Heliopora , but two cryptic lineages were recently identified along the Kuroshio Current, from the Philippines through to Taiwan and Japan 18 – 20 . Both of these lineages share the distinctive blue skeleton.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated evidence reveals a new species in the ancient blue coral genus Heliopora (Octocorallia)

Richards

Yasuda

Kikuchi

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Maintaining the accretion potential and three dimensional structure of coral reefs is a priority but reef-building scleractinian corals are highly threatened and retreating. Hence future reefs are predicted to be dominated by non-constructional taxa. Since the Late Triassic however, other non-scleractinian anthozoans such as Heliopora have contributed to tropical and subtropical reef-building. Heliopora is an ancient and highly conserved reef building octocoral genus within the monospecific Family Helioporidae, represented by a single extant species – H. coerulea, Pallas, 1766. Here we show integrated morphological, genomic and reproductive evidence to substantiate the existence of a second species within the genus Heliopora. Importantly, some individuals of the new species herein described as Heliopora hiberniana sp. nov. feature a white skeleton indicating that the most diagnostic and conserved Heliopora character (the blue skeleton) can be displaced. The new species is currently known only from offshore areas in north Western Australia, which is a part of the world where coral bleaching events have severely impacted the scleractinian community over the last two decades. Field observations indicate individuals of both H. coerulea and H. hiberniana sp. nov. were intact after the 2016 Scott Reef thermal stress event, and we discuss the possibility that bleaching resistant non-scleractinian reef builders such as Heliopora could provide new ecological opportunities for the reconfiguration of future reefs by filling empty niches and functional roles left open by the regression of scleractinian corals.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated evidence reveals a new species in the ancient blue coral genus Heliopora (Octocorallia)

Richards

Yasuda

Kikuchi

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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“…Successful recruitment is an important contributor to reef resilience in the face of environmental perturbation [16][17][18]. Interestingly, although recruitment tiles were deployed during the predicted period of mass spawning of scleractinian corals and H. coerulea in Bolinao [13,14], only 1 out of 16 tiles placed inside H. coerulea aggregations contained any visible recruits. The single recruit found on these settlement tiles was a blue coral juvenile (Figure 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The settlement tiles were fixed horizontally to the substrate by hammering two-inch concrete nails through a hole bored at the center of each tile. Settlement tiles were deployed for three months from April to June 2012, which corresponds to the reported peak spawning period of scleractinian corals, as well as H. coerulea, in Bolinao [13,14]. After the exposure period, tiles were retrieved and newly settled corals were identified to genus level by microscopic examination of all the sides of the tiles.…”

Section: Recruitment Assaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Blue Coral Heliopora coerulea on Scleractinian Coral Larval Recruitment

Atrigenio

Aliño

Conaco

2017

Journal of Marine Biology

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The octocoral Heliopora coerulea has emerged as one of the most dominant reef-building corals in the Bolinao Reef Complex, northern Philippines. One of the possible mechanisms that may contribute to the success of H. coerulea over scleractinian corals is its ability to compete effectively for space on the reef by inhibiting the settlement of coral larvae in its immediate vicinity. To determine whether H. coerulea can indeed inhibit larval recruitment, settlement tiles were deployed inside H. coerulea aggregations or on hard substrate at a distance of about 2 to 3 meters away. After three months of deployment, only a single H. coerulea recruit was observed on tiles placed within aggregations whereas many different coral recruits were observed on tiles placed on substrate away from the blue coral. These results suggest that adult H. coerulea can inhibit the settlement of scleractinian larvae. This effect may be mediated by various mechanisms, such as the production of allelopathic compounds, deployment of mesenterial filaments, and sweeper tentacles. However, further studies are needed to determine the modes of competition that are used by the coral.

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“…The expanded repertoire of signaling genes may contribute to its ability to sense and respond to various stimuli in its environment. In addition, the enrichment of transcripts with functions related to cytoskeleton, extracellular matrix, and cell cycle in the blue coral transcriptome suggests a capacity for tissue growth and remodeling that may partly explain the morphological plasticity of this species 34 and its ability to compete for space on the reef.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptome analysis of the reef-building octocoral, Heliopora coerulea

Guzman

Shinzato

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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The blue coral, Heliopora coerulea, is a reef-building octocoral that prefers shallow water and exhibits optimal growth at a temperature close to that which causes bleaching in scleractinian corals. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying its biology and ecology, we generated a reference transcriptome for H. coerulea using next-generation sequencing. Metatranscriptome assembly yielded 90,817 sequences of which 71% (64,610) could be annotated by comparison to public databases. The assembly included transcript sequences from both the coral host and its symbionts, which are related to the thermotolerant C3-Gulf ITS2 type Symbiodinium. Analysis of the blue coral transcriptome revealed enrichment of genes involved in stress response, including heat-shock proteins and antioxidants, as well as genes participating in signal transduction and stimulus response. Furthermore, the blue coral possesses homologs of biomineralization genes found in other corals and may use a biomineralization strategy similar to that of scleractinians to build its massive aragonite skeleton. These findings thus offer insights into the ecology of H. coerulea and suggest gene networks that may govern its interactions with its environment.

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Cryptic speciation in the stony octocoral Heliopora coerulea: temporal reproductive isolation between two growth forms

Cited by 22 publications

References 21 publications

Integrated evidence reveals a new species in the ancient blue coral genus Heliopora (Octocorallia)

Integrated evidence reveals a new species in the ancient blue coral genus Heliopora (Octocorallia)

Influence of the Blue Coral Heliopora coerulea on Scleractinian Coral Larval Recruitment

Transcriptome analysis of the reef-building octocoral, Heliopora coerulea

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