Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ariana S. Huffmyer, Colton J. Johnson, Ashleigh M. Epps, Judith D. Lemus, Ruth D. Gates
Summary: Feeding plays a crucial role in the physiological and stress tolerance of corals, with feeding leading to increased growth, thicker tissues, and enhanced survival under thermal stress. Corals that were fed and exposed to cool temperatures prior to high-temperature stress showed higher survival rates, possibly due to reduced symbiont fluorescence providing protective effects. As oceans continue to warm, early life stages of corals may need to adapt their feeding strategies to survive.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Emmanuelle S. Botte, Neal E. Cantin, Veronique J. L. Mocellin, Paul A. O'Brien, Melissa M. Rocker, Pedro R. Frade, Nicole S. Webster
Summary: This study investigated the impact of heat stress events on the microbial communities of corals in the Great Barrier Reef, finding that while Symbiodiniaceae densities were similar, microbial communities differed significantly between reefs, not based on bleaching severity. Site-specific factors and species-specific traits played a key role in shaping the microbiome of the coral Pocillopora acuta.
Article
Ecology
Anna Fiesinger, Christoph Held, Frank Melzner, Lalita Putchim, Thorsten B. H. Reusch, Andrea L. Schmidt, Marlene Wall
Summary: This study investigated the genetic diversity of P. acuta populations in the Andaman Sea. The results showed that the 2010 bleaching event did not cause extreme genetic impoverishment and there were distinct genetic clusters within short coastal stretches. These findings are important for conservation efforts in the future.
BMC ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shreya Yadav, Ty N. F. Roach, Michael J. J. McWilliam, Carlo Caruso, Mariana Rocha de Souza, Catherine Foley, Corinne Allen, Jenna Dilworth, Joel Huckeba, Erika P. P. Santoro, Renee Wold, Jacquelyn Simpson, Spencer Miller, Joshua R. R. Hancock, Crawford Drury, Joshua S. S. Madin
Summary: This study used structure-from-motion photogrammetry to track coral bleaching, mortality, and changes in community composition during the 2019 marine heatwave in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The results showed that spatial and taxonomic heterogeneity in coral bleaching and mortality were influenced by environmental variation, habitat complexity, and differences in assemblage composition.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ana M. Palacio-Castro, Tyler B. Smith, Viktor Brandtneris, Grace A. Snyder, Ruben van Hooidonk, Juan L. Mate, Derek Manzello, Peter W. Glynn, Peggy Fong, Andrew C. Baker
Summary: Climate change is changing coral reef ecosystems by causing more frequent and severe bleaching events. Some reefs, particularly Pocillopora colonies with thermotolerant algal symbionts, have shown higher heat resistance after severe bleaching. However, this state may not be long-lasting unless global greenhouse gas emissions and global warming are reduced.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Anna Fiesinger, Christoph Held, Andrea L. Schmidt, Lalita Putchim, Frank Melzner, Marlene Wall
Summary: This study used molecular species recognition to identify coral colonies in the Andaman Sea that were previously misidentified as Pocillopora damicornis, but were actually Pocillopora acuta. It highlights the importance of high-resolution molecular species recognition in conservation and management efforts.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
L. Saponari, I. Dehnert, P. Galli, S. Montano
Summary: The study revealed that populations of Drupella spp. in the Maldives tend to occur in aggregations and prefer branching corals. They exhibit a high plasticity in adapting feeding preferences to prey availability. Despite impacting coral cover reduction, the overall impact of Drupella spp. appears to be minimal.
Article
Environmental Sciences
D. Burn, A. S. Hoey, S. Matthews, H. B. Harrison, M. S. Pratchett
Summary: Climate-induced coral bleaching poses a major threat to coral assemblages worldwide, but susceptibility to bleaching varies among different coral taxa. In this study, we compared bleaching susceptibility among 10 coral morpho-taxa and two colony size classes across 33 reefs in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea Marine Parks. We found that colony size and bleaching severity significantly influenced the hierarchy of bleaching susceptibility among taxa, with massive Porites shifting from being less likely to bleach to becoming highly susceptible as overall bleaching severity increased. Additionally, juvenile corals smaller than 5 cm in diameter were generally more resistant to bleaching, except for Montipora and Pocillopora colonies, which exhibited higher bleaching susceptibility compared to adult corals larger than 5 cm.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Eva Majerova, Fiona C. Carey, Crawford Drury, Ruth D. Gates
Summary: Thermal preconditioning can increase coral tolerance to acute heat stress, reduce bleaching, and play a key role in coral bleaching and acclimatization through modulations in cell death pathways. These findings suggest that programmed cell death pathways are essential for coral acclimatization and resilience, which may have implications for coral reef conservation and management.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Jenny Fong, Rosa Celia Poquita-Du, Peter A. Todd
Summary: This study found that Pocillopora acuta is able to acclimate to very low-light conditions by adjusting their photophysiology in urban environments, showing differences in phenotypic plasticity among genotypes for photoacclimation and heterotrophy, but with similar overall responses. The results provide additional evidence of the resilience of this species to urbanization-related stress.
Article
Ecology
Qingsong Yang, Ying Zhang, Manzoor Ahmad, Juan Ling, Weiguo Zhou, Yanying Zhang, Junde Dong
Summary: The study revealed significant changes in the coral microbial community during a natural bleaching event in the South China Sea, highlighting potential roles of specific bacterial groups in association with the symbiotic algae Symbiodinium during coral bleaching process and supporting the beneficial microorganisms theory for corals.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ahmed Eladawy, Takashi Nakamura, Mohamed Shaltout, Asmaa Mohammed, Kazuo Nadaoka, Michael D. Fox, Eslam O. Osman
Summary: Corals in the northern Red Sea exhibit high thermal tolerance, likely due to lower water temperatures. Bleaching patterns across the Red Sea are independent of the local maximum monthly mean of seawater temperature.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Caitlin A. Lawson, Jean-Baptiste Raina, Elisabeth Deschaseaux, Victoria Hrebien, Malcolm Possell, Justin R. Seymour, David J. Suggett
Summary: Terrestrial ecosystems emit a large amount of BVOCs which play crucial roles in various biological processes, while the diversity and functional potential of BVOCs produced in marine environments, particularly in coral reefs, remain poorly understood. This study examined the volatile organic compounds emitted by two common reef-building corals and found that heat stress events significantly reduced the chemical richness and functional potential of their gaseous emissions, which could compromise the healthy functioning of coral reef ecosystems in the future.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Ariana S. Huffmyer, Crawford Drury, Eva Majerova, Judith D. Lemus, Ruth D. Gates
Summary: The study reveals that tissue fusion during coral recruitment can significantly improve recruit survival rates, particularly under high temperature stress. Additionally, fused recruits showed longer median survival times, with further increases observed when composed of multiple parental genotypes. These findings provide valuable insights into early life history strategies that enhance tolerance to ocean warming.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christopher P. Jury, Brian M. Boeing, Henry Trapido-Rosenthal, Ruth D. Gates, Robert J. Toonen
Summary: This study reveals that increased production of nitric oxide by algal symbionts is a more important driver of coral bleaching under acute thermal stress, compared to symbiont dysfunction.
Article
Ecology
Hannah E. Epstein, Michael J. Kingsford
ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY OF FISHES
(2019)
Review
Ecology
Hannah E. Epstein, Hillary A. Smith, Gergely Torda, Madeleine J. H. van Oppen
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Paul A. O'Brien, Shangjin Tan, Chentao Yang, Pedro R. Frade, Nikos Andreakis, Hillary A. Smith, David J. Miller, Nicole S. Webster, Guojie Zhang, David G. Bourne
Article
Microbiology
Isis Guibert, Gael Lecellier, Gergely Torda, Xavier Pochon, Veronique Berteaux-Lecellier
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Danielle C. Claar, Samuel Starko, Kristina L. Tietjen, Hannah E. Epstein, Ross Cunning, Kim M. Cobb, Andrew C. Baker, Ruth D. Gates, Julia K. Baum
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hillary A. Smith, Jessica A. Conlan, F. Joseph Pollock, Naohisa Wada, Amanda Shore, Julia Yun-Hsuan Hung, Greta S. Aeby, Bette L. Willis, David S. Francis, David G. Bourne
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Hillary A. Smith, Dylan A. Brown, Chaitanya Arjunwadkar, Stella E. Fulton, Taylor Whitman, Bambang Hermanto, Elissa Mastroianni, Neil Mattocks, Adam K. Smith, Peter L. Harrison, Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson, Ian M. McLeod, David G. Bourne
Summary: Removing macroalgae may be an effective intervention to boost recruitment and facilitate recovery on degraded tropical coral reefs.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Hannah E. Epstein, Alejandra Hernandez-Agreda, Samuel Starko, Julia K. Baum, Rebecca Vega Thurber
Summary: 16S rRNA gene profiling is a widely used technique for studying microbial communities, with standardized protocols that are generally assumed to produce comparable results. However, this study found significant differences in beta diversity metrics between data generated from similar protocols, suggesting that sequencing protocol can impact microbial community analysis in a context-dependent manner. Further research is needed to understand the mechanistic causes of these differences and caution is advised when combining data from distinct sequencing protocols for microbiome analysis.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Hillary A. Smith, Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson, David G. Bourne
Summary: Persistent changes to reef communities have begun to be documented on the Great Barrier Reef, with shifts that may favor the proliferation of macroalgae on inshore reefs. Understanding these changes and accurately documenting the abundance of different reef organisms is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate their impacts. Traditional techniques for documenting coral reef communities may either over- or under-represent canopy-forming organisms, making it essential to implement methods that capture changes to the vertical dimension of coral reefs. The study proposes a vertically stratified transect method that accurately captures three-dimensional changes resulting from algal canopy growth, improving abundance estimates while maintaining compatibility with traditional methods.
Article
Ecology
Hillary A. Smith, Tara Prenzlau, Taylor Whitman, Stella E. Fulton, Stefano Borghi, Murray Logan, Scott F. Heron, David G. Bourne
Summary: The interaction between macroalgae and corals plays a crucial role in coral bleaching and recovery. Upright macroalgae can provide some refuge, reducing coral bleaching and mortality. However, the protection effect of macroalgae on branching and encrusting corals is limited during severe heat stress events.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chaitanya Arjunwadkar, Sterling B. Tebbett, David R. Bellwood, David G. Bourne, Hillary A. Smith
Summary: The study explored the relationship between particulate accumulation and taxonomic composition of algal turfs. Results showed that particulate mass was positively related to algal turf length, while the relationship between particulate mass and turf density followed a negative parabolic shape. Furthermore, increasing particulate mass led to significant differences in taxonomic composition of algal turfs. The findings suggest that changes in algal turf structure and composition can have various influences on coral reef ecosystems.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ian M. McLeod, Margaux Y. Hein, Russ Babcock, Line Bay, David G. Bourne, Nathan Cook, Christopher Doropoulos, Mark Gibbs, Peter Harrison, Stewart Lockie, Madeleine J. H. van Oppen, Neil Mattocks, Cathie A. Page, Carly J. Randall, Adam Smith, Hillary A. Smith, David J. Suggett, Bruce Taylor, Karen J. Vella, David Wachenfeld, Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson
Summary: Australia has been implementing innovative intervention and restoration actions to address the decline in coral cover in its reefs. This article outlines the various approaches taken, including in-water programs, research to enhance coral resilience, and investigations into socio-economic perspectives. The progress in coral restoration in Australia demonstrates the increasing urgency to confront the coral reef crisis and the development of new tools for reef management.
Review
Microbiology
Denise P. Silva, Hannah E. Epstein, Rebecca L. Vega L. Thurber
Summary: In the past two decades, researchers have sought methods to understand the relationship between coral hosts and their microbiomes better. Data on coral-associated bacteria can reveal how they mediate the coral's response to stressors and impact its interactions with the environment. Tracking coral bacteria dynamics can also unveil mechanisms of coral resilience and adaptation. This review provides recommendations for sample collection, preservation, processing, and analysis methods to effectively study coral microbiome dynamics.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Hillary A. Smith, Stella E. Fulton, Ian M. Mcleod, Cathie A. Page, David G. Bourne
Summary: Manual removal of macroalgae can promote the recovery of inshore coral reefs and improve the composition of benthic reef organisms.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Pia Bessell-Browne, Hannah E. Epstein, Nora Hall, Patrick Buerger, Kathryn Berry
Summary: The study found that the 2015-2016 El Nino event had significant impacts on coral cover in central and northern atolls of the Maldives, with a higher percentage of recently dead corals, particularly in branching corals.
OCEANS-SWITZERLAND
(2021)