Patterns of environmental variability influence coral‐associated bacterial and algal communities on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef

Speare, Lauren; Davies, Sarah W.; Balmonte, John Paul; Baumann, Justin H.; Castillo, Karl D.

doi:10.1111/mec.15497

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 100 publications

(176 reference statements)

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“…While coral microbiomes are generally comprised of species-specific communities [11,12], environmental perturbations like nutrient or temperature fluxes can induce compositional shifts that vary both spatially [13] and temporally [14][15][16][17]. It has been proposed that coral species that maintain stable microbiomes may be more tolerant to environmental stressors [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Response of the Microbiome of Pocillopora acuta to Reciprocal Transplantation Within Singapore

Deignan

McDougald

2021

Microb Ecol

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As corals continue to decline globally, particularly due to climate change, it is vital to understand the extent to which their microbiome may confer an adaptive resilience against environmental stress. Corals that survive on the urban reefs of Singapore are ideal candidates to study the association of scleractinians with their microbiome, which in turn can inform reef conservation and management. In this study, we monitored differences in the microbiome of Pocillopora acuta colonies reciprocally transplanted between two reefs, Raffles and Kusu, within the Port of Singapore, where corals face intense anthropogenic impacts. Pocillopora acuta had previously been shown to host distinct microbial communities between these two reefs. Amplicon sequencing (16S rRNA) was used to assess the coral microbiomes at 1, 2, 4, and 10 days post-transplantation. Coral microbiomes responded rapidly to transplantation, becoming similar to those of the local corals at the destination reef within one day at Raffles and within two days at Kusu. Elevated nitrate concentrations were detected at Raffles for the duration of the study, potentially influencing the microbiome’s response to transplantation. The persistence of corals within the port of Singapore highlights the ability of corals to adapt to stressful environments. Further, coral resilience appears to coincide with a dynamic microbiome which can undergo shifts in composition without succumbing to dysbiosis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Response of the Microbiome of Pocillopora acuta to Reciprocal Transplantation Within Singapore

Deignan

McDougald

2021

Microb Ecol

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“…Gene categorization was performed based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Orthology (KO) designations. Differential expression analysis was performed through DeSeq2 and as described previously (66). Briefly, a contingency table was generated by comparing average transcript per sample abundances between treatments using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) corrected for multiple comparisons using the false discovery rate (FDR).…”

Section: Scanning Electron Microscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient enrichment alters gene expression in ‘Ca.’Aquarickettsia rohweri, promoting parasite expansion and horizontal transmission

Speare¹,

Klinges²,

Duke³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Ocean warming, disease, and pollution have contributed to global declines in coral abundances and diversity. In the Caribbean, corals previously dominated reefs, providing an architectural framework for diverse ecological habitats, but have significantly declined due to infectious microbial disease. Key species like coralAcropora cervicornis, are now considered critically endangered, prompting researchers to focus on scientific endeavors to identify factors that influence coral disease resistance and resilience. We previously showed that disease susceptibility, growth rates, and bleaching risk were all associated with the abundance of a single bacterial parasite,′Ca.′Aquarickettsia rohweri which proliferates in vivo under nutrient enrichment. Yet how nutrients influence parasite physiology and life history strategies within its host are unknown. We performed microscopy and transcriptomic analyses of′Ca.′A. rohweri populations during a 6–week nutrient exposure experiment. Microscopy showed that this parasite was abundant in coral tissue and densely packed in mucocytes prior to nutrient enrichment.′Ca.′A. rohweri energy scavenging genes and those potentially involved in this habitat transition are significantly upregulated during enrichment. Specifically, transcripts involved in signaling, virulence, two-component systems, and nutrient import genes are elevated under higher nutrients. These data support the predicted role of′Ca.′A. rohweri as a highly active nutrient-responsiveA. cervicornisparasite, and provide a glimpse at the mechanism of induced disease susceptibility while implicating nutrient exposure in its horizontal transmission.

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“…Indeed, previous work has observed that greater coral tissue biomass follows increased symbiont density and chlorophyll a content in several Caribbean reef-building coral species [27], highlighting the intrinsic relationship with algal symbionts to support the coral host's energy budget. Further, previous work has reported the influence of algal symbiont and microbiome communities as mechanisms of improving coral holobiont physiology under environmental stress [28][29][30][31][32]. Overall, it is clear that maintaining healthy symbioses within the coral holobiont is critical for the physiological health of the coral host.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Global change differentially modulates Caribbean coral physiology

et al. 2022

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Global change driven by anthropogenic carbon emissions is altering ecosystems at unprecedented rates, especially coral reefs, whose symbiosis with algal symbionts is particularly vulnerable to increasing ocean temperatures and altered carbonate chemistry. Here, we assess the physiological responses of three Caribbean coral (animal host + algal symbiont) species from an inshore and offshore reef environment after exposure to simulated ocean warming (28, 31°C), acidification (300–3290 μatm), and the combination of stressors for 93 days. We used multidimensional analyses to assess how a variety of coral physiological parameters respond to ocean acidification and warming. Our results demonstrate reductions in coral health in Siderastrea siderea and Porites astreoides in response to projected ocean acidification, while future warming elicited severe declines in Pseudodiploria strigosa. Offshore S. siderea fragments exhibited higher physiological plasticity than inshore counterparts, suggesting that this offshore population was more susceptible to changing conditions. There were no plasticity differences in P. strigosa and P. astreoides between natal reef environments, however, temperature evoked stronger responses in both species. Interestingly, while each species exhibited unique physiological responses to ocean acidification and warming, when data from all three species are modelled together, convergent stress responses to these conditions are observed, highlighting the overall sensitivities of tropical corals to these stressors. Our results demonstrate that while ocean warming is a severe acute stressor that will have dire consequences for coral reefs globally, chronic exposure to acidification may also impact coral physiology to a greater extent in some species than previously assumed. Further, our study identifies S. siderea and P. astreoides as potential ‘winners’ on future Caribbean coral reefs due to their resilience under projected global change stressors, while P. strigosa will likely be a ‘loser’ due to their sensitivity to thermal stress events. Together, these species-specific responses to global change we observe will likely manifest in altered Caribbean reef assemblages in the future.

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Patterns of environmental variability influence coral‐associated bacterial and algal communities on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef

Cited by 6 publications

References 100 publications

Differential Response of the Microbiome of Pocillopora acuta to Reciprocal Transplantation Within Singapore

Differential Response of the Microbiome of Pocillopora acuta to Reciprocal Transplantation Within Singapore

Nutrient enrichment alters gene expression in ‘Ca.’Aquarickettsia rohweri, promoting parasite expansion and horizontal transmission

Global change differentially modulates Caribbean coral physiology

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