Importance of depth and temperature variability as drivers of coral symbiont composition despite a mass bleaching event

Souza, Mariana Rocha de; Cerrano, Carlo; Ruiz‐Jones, Lupita; Drury, Crawford; Gates, Ruth D.; Toonen, Robert J.

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-35425-9

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 119 publications

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“…Further, some coral taxa exhibit higher flexibility in their Symbiodiniaceae assemblages than others ( Goulet, 2006 ; Putnam et al, 2012 ) and individual colonies may have their own ‘Symbiodiniaceae signature’ ( Rouzé et al, 2019 ). The dynamics of these symbioses are also affected by environmental regimes ( Baker et al, 2013 ; de Souza et al 2023 ; de Souza et al 2022 ) and the symbionts’ physiological traits ( Wong, Enríquez & Baker, 2021 ), making it difficult to predict post-bleaching recovery or mortality based solely on changes in the composition of in hospite symbiont communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardization of in situ coral bleaching measurements highlights the variability in responses across genera, morphologies, and regions

Khen,

Wall,

Smith

2023

PeerJ

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Marine heatwaves and regional coral bleaching events have become more frequent and severe across the world’s oceans over the last several decades due to global climate change. Observational studies have documented spatiotemporal variation in the responses of reef-building corals to thermal stress within and among taxa across geographic scales. Although many tools exist for predicting, detecting, and quantifying coral bleaching, it remains difficult to compare bleaching severity (e.g., percent cover of bleached surface areas) among studies and across species or regions. For this review, we compiled over 2,100 in situ coral bleaching observations representing 87 reef-building coral genera and 250 species of common morphological groups from a total of 74 peer-reviewed scientific articles, encompassing three broad geographic regions (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans). While bleaching severity was found to vary by region, genus, and morphology, we found that both genera and morphologies responded differently to thermal stress across regions. These patterns were complicated by (i) inconsistent methods and response metrics across studies; (ii) differing ecological scales of observations (i.e., individual colony-level vs. population or community-level); and (iii) temporal variability in surveys with respect to the onset of thermal stress and the chronology of bleaching episodes. To improve cross-study comparisons, we recommend that future surveys prioritize measuring bleaching in the same individual coral colonies over time and incorporate the severity and timing of warming into their analyses. By reevaluating and standardizing the ways in which coral bleaching is quantified, researchers will be able to track responses to marine heatwaves with increased rigor, precision, and accuracy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standardization of in situ coral bleaching measurements highlights the variability in responses across genera, morphologies, and regions

Khen,

Wall,

Smith

2023

PeerJ

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Back-to-back bleaching events in Peninsular Malaysia (2019–2020) selectively affect hard coral taxa across- and within-reef scales

Szereday,

Voolstra,

Amri

2024

Mar Biol

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The impacts of (repeat) bleaching events and the differential heat stress susceptibility of hard coral taxa are largely unknown in Malaysia, although it is part of the greater coral triangle. Here we determined bleaching trajectories of 46 hard coral taxa across- and within-reef scales based on data recorded during the first reported back-to-back coral bleaching occurrences in Malaysia between May 2019 and September 2020. Although the severity of coral bleaching in both years did not correspond to the rather small magnitude of heat stress observed, i.e., Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) of 1.05 °C-weeks and 0 °C-weeks in 2019 and 2020 respectively, we observed high levels of bleaching (55.21% and 26.63% of all surveyed colonies in 2019 and 2020, respectively). Notably, the bleaching response for both consecutive years was highly taxon-specific and significantly varied across- and within-reef scales. Mortality rates overall were low following the 2019 event, likely due to a rapid decrease in heat stress. Five of the 46 surveyed hard coral taxa exhibited more severe bleaching in 2020, despite a lower heat stress load. Interestingly, we observed low bleaching of ascribed susceptible taxa such as Acropora and Montipora, while we found taxa considered to be resilient, e.g. Heliopora and Porites, to exhibit severe bleaching, suggesting a reversal of bleaching hierarchies of taxa over time. Our findings provide a foundation for further coral bleaching studies in a region with few published records to enable more accurate regional assessments and to follow the trajectory of future coral bleaching events.

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The impact of coral reef habitat and microbial abundance status on sponge-associated prokaryotic communities

Cleary,

Gomes,

Ambo-Rappe

et al. 2024

Coral Reefs

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Sponges are one of the oldest lineages of animals on Earth and play key roles in shaping marine ecosystems. They are diverse, with more than 9600 species known to science, and come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colours. Sponges are, furthermore, known to host diverse communities of microbial symbionts, which play important roles in their physiology and ecology. In the present study, we sampled prokaryotic communities from 24 sponge species inhabiting coral reef flat and slope habitats off the coast of SW Celebes (Indonesia) in addition to sediment and seawater. The prokaryotic profiles of several sponge species were characterised for the first time. In line with previous studies, we revealed pronounced variation in diversity and composition among species with high microbial abundance (HMA) or low microbial abundance (LMA) status playing an important role in structuring prokaryotic communities across host sponge species. In addition to this, reef habitat (flat versus slope) also played a significant role in structuring prokaryotic communities. Most species in the reef slope habitat housed prokaryotic communities with a consistent profile of several cyanobacterial and prokaryotic OTUs, whereas these OTUs were largely absent from sponges inhabiting the reef flat habitat. Instead, they tended to house highly abundant bacterial populations related to the Synechococcus spongiarum group. We propose that specific strains of S. spongiarum may play a key role in enabling their host sponges to survive in an, otherwise, inhospitable environment (e.g., high irradiance and temperature) and, thus, help to explain differences in sponge composition between coral reef flat and slope habitats.

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Importance of depth and temperature variability as drivers of coral symbiont composition despite a mass bleaching event

Cited by 5 publications

References 119 publications

Standardization of in situ coral bleaching measurements highlights the variability in responses across genera, morphologies, and regions

Standardization of in situ coral bleaching measurements highlights the variability in responses across genera, morphologies, and regions

Back-to-back bleaching events in Peninsular Malaysia (2019–2020) selectively affect hard coral taxa across- and within-reef scales

The impact of coral reef habitat and microbial abundance status on sponge-associated prokaryotic communities

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