Low-level nutrient enrichment during thermal stress delays bleaching and ameliorates calcification in three Hawaiian reef coral species

Han, Ji Hoon J.; Stefanak, Matthew P; Rodgers, Kuʻulei S.

doi:10.7717/peerj.13707

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…The low survivorship of P. acuta suggests that the microbial community associated with this species was also somewhat inflexible, but unlike M. capitata, the microbial community of P. acuta did not predict survivorship under future ocean conditions (S14 Table in S1 File). The low survivorship is consistent with findings from additional studies of Hawaiian P. acuta, which hypothesize that the host-Symbiodiniaceae relationship for this coral species is sensitive to environmental stresses like heat and nutrient enrichment [83,84]. This species of coral is often fast-growing, reproduces at a young age, and shows high rates of recruitment, lending to its characterization as a "weedy coral" [85].…”

Section: Montipora Capitata and Pocillopora Acutasupporting

confidence: 83%

Long-term coral microbial community acclimatization is associated with coral survival in a changing climate

Price,

McLachlan,

Jury

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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The plasticity of some coral-associated microbial communities under stressors like warming and ocean acidification suggests the microbiome has a role in the acclimatization of corals to future ocean conditions. Here, we evaluated the acclimatization potential of coral-associated microbial communities of four Hawaiian coral species (Porites compressa, Porites lobata, Montipora capitata, and Pocillopora acuta) over 22-month mesocosm experiment. The corals were exposed to one of four treatments: control, ocean acidification, ocean warming, or combined future ocean conditions. Over the 22-month study, 33–67% of corals died or experienced a loss of most live tissue coverage in the ocean warming and future ocean treatments while only 0–10% died in the ocean acidification and control. Among the survivors, coral-associated microbial communities responded to the chronic future ocean treatment in one of two ways: (1) microbial communities differed between the control and future ocean treatment, suggesting the potential capacity for acclimatization, or (2) microbial communities did not significantly differ between the control and future ocean treatment. The first strategy was observed in both Porites species and was associated with higher survivorship compared to M. capitata and P. acuta which exhibited the second strategy. Interestingly, the microbial community responses to chronic stressors were independent of coral physiology. These findings indicate acclimatization of microbial communities may confer resilience in some species of corals to chronic warming associated with climate change. However, M. capitata genets that survived the future ocean treatment hosted significantly different microbial communities from those that died, suggesting the microbial communities of the survivors conferred some resilience. Thus, even among coral species with inflexible microbial communities, some individuals may already be tolerant to future ocean conditions. These findings suggest that coral-associated microbial communities could play an important role in the persistence of some corals and underlie climate change-driven shifts in coral community composition.

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Section: Montipora Capitata and Pocillopora Acutasupporting

confidence: 83%

Long-term coral microbial community acclimatization is associated with coral survival in a changing climate

Price,

McLachlan,

Jury

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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“…A combination of fisheries management and elevated nutrients could explain the improved bleaching response we observed at Kahekili. Moderate nutrient enrichment has been shown to delay the onset of bleaching [ 124 ] and reduce bleaching-associated mortality by improving the photosynthetic efficiency of symbionts [ 30 ] or enhancing water column chlorophyll-a, which in turn can reduce irradiance and support coral heterotrophy [ 125 ]. However, it is important to note that the interactive effects of nutrient enrichment and macroalgae have been found to be especially harmful for corals during and immediately after bleaching events [ 126 , 127 ], since nutrients enhance the growth and competitive ability of macroalgae [ 122 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corals that survive repeated thermal stress show signs of selection and acclimatization

McCarthy,

Winston Pomeroy,

Smith

2024

PLoS ONE

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Climate change is transforming coral reefs by increasing the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves, often leading to coral bleaching and mortality. Coral communities have demonstrated modest increases in thermal tolerance following repeated exposure to moderate heat stress, but it is unclear whether these shifts represent acclimatization of individual colonies or mortality of thermally susceptible individuals. For corals that survive repeated bleaching events, it is important to understand how past bleaching responses impact future growth potential. Here, we track the bleaching responses of 1,832 corals in leeward Maui through multiple marine heatwaves and document patterns of coral growth and survivorship over a seven-year period. While we find limited evidence of acclimatization at population scales, we document reduced bleaching over time in specific individuals that is indicative of acclimatization, primarily in the stress-tolerant taxa Porites lobata. For corals that survived both bleaching events, we find no relationship between bleaching response and coral growth in three of four taxa studied. This decoupling suggests that coral survivorship is a better indicator of future growth than is a coral’s bleaching history. Based on these results, we recommend restoration practitioners in Hawaiʻi focus on colonies of Porites and Montipora with a proven track-record of growth and survivorship, rather than devote resources toward identifying and cultivating bleaching-resistant phenotypes in the lab. Survivorship followed a latitudinal thermal stress gradient, but because this gradient was small, it is likely that local environmental factors also drove differences in coral performance between sites. Efforts to reduce human impacts at low performing sites would likely improve coral survivorship in the future.

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“…+ and P at levels known to influence coral bleaching (e.g., Béraud et al, 2013;Han et al, 2022;Fernandes de Barros Marangoni et al, 2020;Wiedenmann et al, 2013), but discerning the relative role that these nutrients played in our study is challenging. If greater P availability had driven the increase in thermal tolerance, we would expect to have seen lower P levels and higher N:P ratios in heated treatments when damselfish were absent.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Bleaching Resistancementioning

confidence: 98%

“…For instance, on the northern Great Barrier Reef between ~50% Pomacentrids (e.g., Allgeier, 2021;Cantrell et al, 2015), the nutrient contributions of these fishes directly around corals are similar to the range of nutrient concentrations known to improve coral thermal tolerance (Béraud et al, 2013;Fernandes de Barros Marangoni et al, 2020;Han et al, 2022). However, to date only one other study has examined how fishes influence coral thermal tolerance (Chase et al, 2018).…”

Section: Positive Interactions On Changing Coral Reefsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive interactions between corals and damselfish increase coral resistance to temperature stress

Shantz

Ladd

Ezzat

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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By the century's end, many tropical seas will reach temperatures exceeding most coral species' thermal tolerance on an annual basis. The persistence of corals in these regions will, therefore, depend on their abilities to tolerate recurrent thermal stress.Although ecologists have long recognized that positive interspecific interactions can ameliorate environmental stress to expand the realized niche of plants and animals, coral bleaching studies have largely overlooked how interactions with community members outside of the coral holobiont shape the bleaching response. Here, we subjected a common coral, Pocillopora grandis, to 10 days of thermal stress in aquaria with and without the damselfish Dascyllus flavicaudus (yellowtail dascyllus), which commonly shelter within these corals, to examine how interactions with damselfish impacted coral thermal tolerance. Corals often benefit from nutrients excreted by animals they interact with and prior to thermal stress, corals grown with damselfish showed improved photophysiology (F v /F m ) and developed larger endosymbiont populations. When exposed to thermal stress, corals with fish performed as well as control corals maintained at ambient temperatures without fish. In contrast, corals exposed to thermal stress without fish experienced photophysiological impairment, a more than 50% decline in endosymbiont density, and a 36% decrease in tissue protein content. At the end of the experiment, thermal stress caused average calcification rates to decrease by over 80% when damselfish were absent but increase nearly 25% when damselfish were present. Our study indicates that damselfish-derived nutrients can increase coral thermal tolerance and are consistent with the Stress Gradient Hypothesis, which predicts that positive interactions become increasingly important for structuring communities as environmental stress increases. Because warming of just a few degrees can exceed corals' temperature tolerance to trigger bleaching and mortality, positive interactions could play a critical role in maintaining some coral species in warming regions until climate change is aggressively addressed.

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Low-level nutrient enrichment during thermal stress delays bleaching and ameliorates calcification in three Hawaiian reef coral species

Cited by 6 publications

References 94 publications

Long-term coral microbial community acclimatization is associated with coral survival in a changing climate

Long-term coral microbial community acclimatization is associated with coral survival in a changing climate

Corals that survive repeated thermal stress show signs of selection and acclimatization

Positive interactions between corals and damselfish increase coral resistance to temperature stress

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