Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Crawford Drury, Jenna Dilworth, Eva Majerova, Carlo Caruso, Justin B. Greer
Summary: Phenotypic plasticity plays an important role in the response of coral to climate change, and stress-hardening can lead to durable improvements in coral thermal tolerance, masking individual variation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Adriana Humanes, Liam Lachs, Elizabeth A. Beauchamp, John C. Bythell, Alasdair J. Edwards, Yimnang Golbuu, Helios M. Martinez, Pawel Palmowski, Achim Treumann, Eveline van der Steeg, Ruben van Hooidonk, James R. Guest
Summary: Coral reefs are facing unprecedented mass bleaching and mortality events due to marine heatwaves and climate change. Individual variation in heat tolerance suggests potential for coral adaptation. By exposing corals to experimental heatwaves, researchers found that the most-tolerant corals required double the heat stress dosage compared to the least-tolerant corals to induce bleaching. Under an ambitious emissions scenario, these differences in coral heat tolerance thresholds may delay the onset of annual bleaching and mortality conditions by up to 17 years. However, this delay is limited to only 10 years under a high emissions scenario. The results highlight the substantial variability in coral heat tolerance and the need for coral adaptation and ambitious emissions reductions.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elizabeth C. Shaver, Elizabeth McLeod, Margaux Y. Hein, Stephen R. Palumbi, Kate Quigley, Tali Vardi, Peter J. Mumby, David Smith, Phanor Montoya-Maya, Erinn M. Muller, Anastazia T. Banaszak, Ian M. McLeod, David Wachenfeld
Summary: Recent warm temperatures caused by climate change have led to coral bleaching and mortality worldwide. As a result, restoration has been embraced as a strategy to sustain coral reefs. However, few restoration programs are incorporating climate change and resilience into project design. This article provides recommendations for integrating resilience principles into restoration design and practice, to enhance coral reef recovery, resistance, and adaptation.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ji Hoon J. Han, Matthew P. Stefanak, Kuulei S. Rodgers
Summary: Terrestrial-based nutrient pollution is harmful to coral health. However, low levels of balanced nutrient enrichment may mitigate the effects of thermal stress on corals.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Courtney N. Klepac, Daniel J. Barshis
Summary: The relationship between thermal stress and coral bleaching has been a topic of study for decades. This study conducted field and experimental research in American Samoa and found a correlation between thermal variability and heat loading with coral bleaching responses.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marie E. Strader, Kate M. Quigley
Summary: This study assesses the impact of symbiosis and gene expression plasticity on the heat stress responses of corals. The findings reveal that heat-evolved symbionts contribute to the survival of coral juveniles under high temperature conditions, and the coral response to heat is correlated with the genus of symbionts.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Courtney N. Klepac, Daniel J. Barshis
Summary: The relationship between thermal stress and coral bleaching has been studied for decades, but there is still a mismatch between remotely sensed bleaching predictors and population-specific bleaching responses. This study investigated the relationship between natural and experimental stress and coral bleaching responses in different thermal environments. The results showed that while greater thermal variability and heat loading did not have a strong relationship with the onset of natural bleaching responses, they were correlated with sublethal stress responses. The study highlights the importance of in situ data for understanding population-specific bleaching responses.
Article
Microbiology
Talisa Doering, Marlene Wall, Lalita Putchim, Tipwimon Rattanawongwan, Roman Schroeder, Ute Hentschel, Anna Roik
Summary: The study found that coral recipients who received microbiome transplantation from heat-tolerant donors showed lower bleaching rates when exposed to short-term heat stress. Specific bacterial species from donors were identified in the microbial communities of recipients, indicating successful transmission. These findings suggest that recipient corals may preferentially take up putative bacterial symbionts, supporting resistance to heat stress more effectively than native symbionts. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of microbiome manipulation and to test the long-term persistence of these effects in field conditions.
Review
Ecology
Serena Hackerott, Harmony A. Martell, Jose M. Eirin-Lopez
Summary: Corals exhibit enhanced stress tolerance through dose-dependent environmental memory, which may persist for multiple years and has critical implications for coral reef conservation research. Responses to environmental stressors vary across coral species, with primed corals showing modified reactions to secondary stress exposures. Mechanisms underlying coral memory responses, likely involving transcriptional regulation and epigenetic modifications, are still poorly understood but can be researched further with advancements in molecular technologies to enhance coral resilience under climate change.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Oceanography
Marcelo Soares, Sergio Rossi, Anne Gurgel, Caroline Lucas, Tallita Tavares, Beatriz Diniz, Caroline Feitosa, Emanuelle Rabelo, Pedro Pereira, Ruy de Kikuchi, Zelinda Leao, Igor Cruz, Pedro de Macedo Carneiro, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip
Summary: The peculiar shallow-water reefs of the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic Ocean grow in suboptimal conditions and face pressures from natural and anthropogenic impacts, especially with worsening climate change. Bleaching events and human activities have severely affected these coral reefs, exacerbating species-specific negative impacts.
OCEAN & COASTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Leila Chapron, Verena Schoepf, Stephen J. Levas, Matthew D. Aschaffenburg, Mark E. Warner, Andrea G. Grottoli
Summary: This study finds that natural physiological variability among coral species appears to be a stronger predictor of coral bleaching resilience than intra- or inter-annual physiological variability within a coral species.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Michael P. Lesser
Summary: Coral reefs are facing extreme environmental pressure from climate change and eutrophication. Changes in nutrient balance may increase coral mortality, while eutrophication can lead to shifts in coral reefs dominated by macroalgae. The effects of eutrophication are compounded by the presence of chemical pollutants, making it difficult to separate their impact from that of climate change on coral reefs.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Marcelle Muniz Barreto, Sebastian Schmidt-Roach, Huawen Zhong, Manuel Aranda
Summary: 《The Potential of Assisted Gene Flow in Red Sea Corals》: Climate change poses a significant threat to corals, and the Red Sea provides an ideal location to study the potential of assisted gene flow in transferring temperature resilience alleles among populations. The study found that translocation alone may not be successful in improving coral health due to other environmental factors, but inter-populational breeding could produce offspring with increased thermal tolerance and local adaptations.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Sanqiang Gong, Jiayuan Liang, Lijia Xu, Yongzhi Wang, Jun Li, Xuejie Jin, Kefu Yu, Yuehuan Zhang
Summary: This study investigates the impact of light qualities on the heat stress response of the reef building coral Acropora tenuis. The results show that blue light enhances the coral's tolerance to thermal bleaching by remodeling the interactions between Symbiodiniaceae and coral. The study also reveals the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from the host in causing coral bleaching.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Madhavi A. Colton, Lisa C. McManus, Daniel E. Schindler, Peter J. Mumby, Stephen R. Palumbi, Michael M. Webster, Timothy E. Essington, Helen E. Fox, Daniel L. Forrest, Steven R. Schill, F. Joseph Pollock, Lukas B. DeFilippo, E. W. Tekwa, Timothy E. Walsworth, Malin L. Pinsky
Summary: To enable better adaptation to climate change, it is essential to conserve a variety of coral reef networks rather than just focusing on visible safe havens.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Courtney N. Klepac, Daniel J. Barshis
Summary: The relationship between thermal stress and coral bleaching has been a topic of study for decades. This study conducted field and experimental research in American Samoa and found a correlation between thermal variability and heat loading with coral bleaching responses.
Article
Limnology
Nicolas. R. R. Evensen, Katherine. E. E. Parker, Thomas. A. A. Oliver, Stephen. R. R. Palumbi, Cheryl. A. A. Logan, James. S. S. Ryan, Courtney. N. N. Klepac, Gabriela Perna, Mark. E. E. Warner, Christian. R. R. Voolstra, Daniel. J. J. Barshis
Summary: Ocean warming is causing increasing harm to marine ecosystems worldwide, particularly affecting reef-building corals through more frequent and severe mass bleaching events. The ability of corals to resist or recover from bleaching varies, and understanding this thermal resilience is crucial for the persistence of coral reefs. However, there is a lack of standardized diagnostic approaches to assess coral thermal vulnerability before bleaching events. The Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) is a cost-effective and portable experimental system that can rapidly assess coral thermal thresholds using standardized temperature stress profiles and diagnostics.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY-METHODS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nicolas R. Evensen, Timothy G. Bateman, Courtney N. Klepac, Sebastian Schmidt-Roach, Marcelle Barreto, Manuel Aranda, Mark E. Warner, Daniel J. Barshis
Summary: Anthropogenic ocean warming poses a significant threat to marine organisms worldwide. The effects of duration and intensity of thermal anomalies on organismal stress responses and thermal thresholds are still unclear. This study compared the impacts of various heating rates, intensities, and exposure durations on two reef-building corals, Acropora hemprichii and Porites lobata. The results revealed complex effects of heating hours above 34°C, heating rate, and species-specific differences in shaping thermotolerance limits for these corals.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
(2023)