Disparate population and holobiont structure of pocilloporid corals across the Red Sea gradient demonstrate species‐specific evolutionary trajectories

Buitrago-López, Carol; Cárdenas, Anny; Hume, Benjamin C. C.; Gosselin, Thierry; Staubach, Fabian; Aranda, Manuel; Barshis, Daniel J.; Sawall, Yvonne; Voolstra, Christian R.

doi:10.1111/mec.16871

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 212 publications

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“…We show that Diploastrea displays a different strategy than Porites at high temperatures (28–30 °C), in that it maintains consistent calcification rates irrespective of the prevailing environment. Species-specific differences need to be thus considered when forecasting coral future survival 51 . Further investigations of the response of Diploastrea corals at annual and seasonal timescales will reduce uncertainties and better constrain the range of their homeostatic ability to calcify at warming water temperatures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in carbonate chemistry up-regulation of long-lived reef-building corals

Canesi

Douville

Montagna

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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With climate projections questioning the future survival of stony corals and their dominance as tropical reef builders, it is critical to understand the adaptive capacity of corals to ongoing climate change. Biological mediation of the carbonate chemistry of the coral calcifying fluid is a fundamental component for assessing the response of corals to global threats. The Tara Pacific expedition (2016–2018) provided an opportunity to investigate calcification patterns in extant corals throughout the Pacific Ocean. Cores from colonies of the massive Porites and Diploastrea genera were collected from different environments to assess calcification parameters of long-lived reef-building corals. At the basin scale of the Pacific Ocean, we show that both genera systematically up-regulate their calcifying fluid pH and dissolved inorganic carbon to achieve efficient skeletal precipitation. However, while Porites corals increase the aragonite saturation state of the calcifying fluid (Ωcf) at higher temperatures to enhance their calcification capacity, Diploastrea show a steady homeostatic Ωcf across the Pacific temperature gradient. Thus, the extent to which Diploastrea responds to ocean warming and/or acidification is unclear, and it deserves further attention whether this is beneficial or detrimental to future survival of this coral genus.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in carbonate chemistry up-regulation of long-lived reef-building corals

Canesi

Douville

Montagna

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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“…This suggests that this alga might be highly host-specialized due to co-evolutionary processes with Millepora hydrocorals. Many members of the Symbiodinium genus are hosted by corals found in variable environments 54 and are often associated with increased tolerance to high irradiance and temperature 38,45 . Accordingly, fire corals have been described as thermotolerant species during climate-driven marine heat waves in French Polynesia, although many colonies bleached and died from the recent massive bleaching event of 2019 52 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These associations represent a contrast to the apparent host-specific Symbiodinium algae that otherwise dominated the Millepora assemblages. Association with Cladocopium algae may allow fire corals to respond more promptly to changes in environmental conditions across reefs through shuffling of background species 19,58,59 and an increase in the number of different genera hosted by coral has been posited to be a possible response to climatic perturbations 38 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Algal symbioses with fire corals demonstrate host genotype specificity and niche adaptation at subspecies resolution

Dubé

Hume

Boissin

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Corals share an intimate relationship with photosynthetic dinoflagellates that contribute to the biology of the emerging metaorganism. While many coral-algal associations exhibit high host fidelity, the extent of this specificity under environmental change remains to be fully understood and is a prerequisite to forecasting the adaptive potential of this obligate symbiosis. Here, we disentangled the contribution of host genotype and environment on governing coral-algae associations by working at subspecies resolution. We used fine-scale genotyping of algal symbionts from 198 fire coral colonies (Millepora cf. platyphylla) that map to ten distinct sexually produced clonal host genotypes across three environmentally distinct reef habitats. Based on microalgal ITS2 genotyping, we show that algal-host specificity extends down to the Symbiodiniaceae subspecies level in a natural reef environment. Closely related Symbiodinium (A7)-dominated algal assemblages almost perfectly mapped to fire coral host genotype. Furthermore, identification of host genotype- and habitat-specific Symbiodinium alga suggest the presence of algal phenotypic diversity even at this taxonomic resolution (i.e., within Symbiodinium A7), which may aid environmental niche adaptation of the metaorganism. Our results suggest that the here-identified Millepora-Symbiodinium associations are co-evolved to match their prevailing environment. Thus, despite the presence of rarer host generalist Cladocopium algae, scope for environmentally induced modification of the cnidarian-algal association is likely constrained by host genotype.

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“…Long thought to be widely distributed across the Indo‐Pacific region, molecular studies based on few mitochondrial and nuclear markers have previously identified four distinct and deeply divergent clades across this broad range (Flot et al., 2011; Keshavmurthy et al., 2013; Klueter & Andreakis, 2013): one homogeneous clade in the eastern Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean and three clades restricted to the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea, with no geographic differentiation observed within clade. Using a reduced representation sequencing approach, additional taxa within the Red Sea clade have been discovered, with at least eight genetic groups identified (Buitrago‐López et al., 2023). In light of these previous findings, we hypothesised that S. pistillata might also represent a species complex on the GBR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring coral speciation: Multiple sympatric Stylophora pistillata taxa along a divergence continuum on the Great Barrier Reef

Meziere,

Popovic,

Prata

et al. 2024

Evolutionary Applications

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Understanding how biodiversity originates and is maintained are fundamental challenge in evolutionary biology. Speciation is a continuous process and progression along this continuum depends on the interplay between evolutionary forces driving divergence and forces promoting genetic homogenisation. Coral reefs are broadly connected yet highly heterogeneous ecosystems, and divergence with gene flow at small spatial scales might therefore be common. Genomic studies are increasingly revealing the existence of closely related and sympatric taxa within taxonomic coral species, but the extent to which these taxa might still be exchanging genes and sharing environmental niches is unclear. In this study, we sampled extensively across diverse habitats at multiple reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and comprehensively examined genome‐wide diversity and divergence histories within and among taxa of the Stylophora pistillata species complex. S. pistillata is one of the most abundant and well‐studied coral species, yet we discovered five distinct taxa, with wide geographic ranges and extensive sympatry. Demographic modelling showed that speciation events have occurred with gene flow and that taxa are at different stages along a divergence continuum. We found significant correlations between genetic divergence and specific environmental variables, suggesting that niche partitioning may have played a role in speciation and that S. pistillata taxa might be differentially adapted to different environments. Conservation actions rely on estimates of species richness, population sizes and species ranges, which are biased if divergent taxa are lumped together. As coral reefs are rapidly degrading due to climate change, our study highlights the importance of recognising evolutionarily distinct and differentially adapted coral taxa to improve conservation and restoration efforts aiming at protecting coral genetic diversity.

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Disparate population and holobiont structure of pocilloporid corals across the Red Sea gradient demonstrate species‐specific evolutionary trajectories

Cited by 18 publications

References 212 publications

Differences in carbonate chemistry up-regulation of long-lived reef-building corals

Differences in carbonate chemistry up-regulation of long-lived reef-building corals

Algal symbioses with fire corals demonstrate host genotype specificity and niche adaptation at subspecies resolution

Exploring coral speciation: Multiple sympatric Stylophora pistillata taxa along a divergence continuum on the Great Barrier Reef

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