Lipid-enriched diets reduce the impacts of thermal stress in corals

Tagliafico, Alejandro; Rudd, David; Rangel, María Salomé; Kelaher, Brendan P.; Christidis, Leslie; Cowden, Ken; Scheffers, Sander; Benkendorff, Kirsten

doi:10.3354/meps12177

Cited by 33 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Feeding has been shown to significantly increase protein and chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations as well as photosynthetic and growth rates in adult S. pistillata (Borell, Yuliantri, Bischof, & Richter, 2008;Houlbreque, Tambutté, Allemand, & Ferrier-Pagès, 2004;Houlbrèque, Tambutté, & Ferrier-Pagès, 2003). Furthermore, enhanced feeding rates can increase resistance to and recovery from bleaching events (Grottoli, Rodrigues, & Palardy, 2006;Hughes & Grottoli, 2013;Tagliafico et al, 2017); however, the carry over effect of feeding has not been assessed in corals. Several questions can be identified, including (a) what are the effects of feeding on coral physiology and reproductive output, (b) is there a measurable carry over effect of parental diet to coral planulae, and (c) how do abrupt temperature changes-in light of global climate change-effect the settlement and mortality rates of planulae as a product of parental diet?…”

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Feeding increases the number of offspring but decreases parental investment of Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata

Bellworthy

Spangenberg

Fine

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Successful reproductive output and recruitment is crucial to coral persistence and recovery following anthropogenic stress. Feeding is known to alter coral physiology and increase resilience to bleaching.The goal of the study was to address the knowledge gap of the influence of feeding on reproductive output and offspring phenotype.Colonies of Stylophora pistillata from the Northern Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea) were fed an Artemia diet or unfed for 5 months during gametogenesis, fertilization, and brooding. In addition, time to settlement and mortality of planulae were assessed at water temperatures ranging from winter temperature (22°C) to three degrees above average peak summer temperature (31°C). A range of physiological parameters was measured in parents and offspring.In brooding parents, feeding significantly increased protein concentration and more than tripled the number of released planulae. Planulae from unfed colonies had higher chlorophyll per symbiont concentration and concomitantly higher photosynthetic efficiency compared to planulae from fed parents. In settlement assays, planulae showed a similar thermal resistance as known for this Red Sea adult population. Mortality was greater in planulae from unfed parents at ambient and 3°C above ambient temperature despite higher per offspring investment in terms of total fatty acid content. Fatty acid profiles and relative abundances were generally conserved between different fed and unfed colonies but planulae were enriched in monounsaturated fatty acids relative to adults, that is, 16:1, 18:1, 20:1, 22:1, and 24:1 isomers.Ultimately the availability of zooplankton could influence population physiology and recruitment in corals.

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confidence: 99%

Feeding increases the number of offspring but decreases parental investment of Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata

Bellworthy

Spangenberg

Fine

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…This has been shown to be true in coral bleaching, namely that individuals with higher lipid stores were able to survive without the Symbiodiniaceae for longer periods of time. This is due to lipids being burnt by the coral resulting in energy allowing continued key life dependent functions [90–92]. This may also be true for disease, with individuals and genotypes with higher lipid stores able to mount a stronger and/or longer immune response.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innate immune gene expression inAcropora palmatais consistent despite variance in yearly disease events

Young

Serrano

Rosales

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Coral disease outbreaks are expected to increase in prevalence, frequency and severity due to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors. This is especially worrying for the Caribbean branching Acropora palmata which has already seen an 80% decrease in its coral cover, with this primarily due to disease. Despite the importance of this species, there has yet to be a characterization of its transcriptomic response to disease exposure. In this study we provide the first transcriptomic analysis of 12 A. palmata genotypes, and their symbiont Symbiodiniaceae, exposed to disease in 2016 and 2017. Year was the primary driver of sample variance for A. palmata and the Symbiodiniaceae. Lower expression of ribosomal genes in the coral, and higher expression of transmembrane ion transport genes in the Symbiodiniaceae indicate that the increased virulence in 2017 may have been due to a dysbiosis between the coral and Symbiodiniaceae. We also identified a conserved suite of innate immune genes responding to the disease challenge that was activated in both years. This included genes from the Toll-like receptor and lectin pathways, and antimicrobial peptides. Co-expression analysis identified a module positively correlated to disease exposure rich in innate immune genes, with D-amino acid oxidase, a gene implicated in phagocytosis and microbiome homeostasis, as the hub gene. The role of D-amino acid oxidase in coral immunity has not been characterized but holds potential as an important enzyme for responding to disease. Our results indicate that A. palmata mounts a similar immune response to disease exposure as other coral species previously studied, but with unique features that may be critical to the survival of this keystone Caribbean species.

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“…Heterotrophy is important for corals because it provides additional energy for growth, as well as nutrients not supplied by the endosymbiotic algae (Houlbrèque & Ferrier‐Pagès ). Survival and growth of propagated corals can be improved through feeding (Barton et al ), by reducing the time spent as fragile early stages (Petersen et al ) and increasing coral health and resilience; both are important considerations during restoration projects and in aquaculture production (Lim et al ; Tagliafico et al ). In this study, there were clear benefits of feeding on the growth and color of corals, suggesting that this may be a useful way to improve resilience prior to transplantation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A potential method for improving coral self‐attachment

Tagliafico

Rangel

Christidis

et al. 2018

Restoration Ecology

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Coral restoration is becoming increasingly important to sustain declining reefs. The survival rate of translocated corals in restoration projects is around 65%. This rate is, however, highly variable among projects, with success ranging from 0 to 90% and with detachment being a significant cause of mortality. Improving the speed and strength of coral self-attachment would increase survivorship in translocated corals. To address this need, we tested whether fragments of the scleractinian coral Hydnophora rigida, artificially attached upside-down, would self-attach more rapidly to the substratum than those artificially attached the right way up, which is the normal practice. We also tested the effect of three different diets (unfed, normal Artemia, and lipid-enriched Artemia) on coral growth and other biological responses. After 100 days, our results demonstrated that corals fixed upside-down grew significantly wider and faster over the substratum than corals fixed the right way up. A significantly higher number of fragments fixed upside-down were also able to self-attach and grow over the substratum (87%) compared with fragments fixed the right way up (58%). Neither the buoyant weight, height increment, symbiont density, chlorophyll, maximum quantum yield nor color of corals fixed upside-down differed significantly from corals fixed the right way up. Our data show that simply inverting the orientation of coral fragments may substantially accelerate the time for self-attachment and increase the survival rate of translocated corals in restoration projects. Implications for Practice• During reef restoration, self-attachment failure is a significant cause of death in translocated corals. • Corals artificially attached upside-down self-attached faster, in higher numbers, and grew wider over substrata than corals artificially attached the right way up. • Placing corals upside-down appears to be a simple, yet effective, method for improving coral self-attachment under ex situ conditions. Nonetheless, field trials using several species are still needed. • Corals that were fed with Artemia (lipid-enriched or non-enriched) grew faster than unfed corals. Feeding might improve the survival and resilience of corals grown ex situ prior to translocation on to reefs.

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Lipid-enriched diets reduce the impacts of thermal stress in corals

Cited by 33 publications

References 55 publications

Feeding increases the number of offspring but decreases parental investment of Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata

Feeding increases the number of offspring but decreases parental investment of Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata

Innate immune gene expression inAcropora palmatais consistent despite variance in yearly disease events

A potential method for improving coral self‐attachment

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