Recovery from bleaching is mediated by threshold densities of background thermo-tolerant symbiont types in a reef-building coral

Bay, Line K., Doyle, Jason, Logan, Murray, and Berkelmans, Raymond (2016) Recovery from bleaching is mediated by threshold densities of background thermo-tolerant symbiont types in a reef-building coral. Royal Society Open Science, 3 (6). 160322. pp. 1-10.

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Abstract

Sensitive molecular analyses show that most corals host a complement of Symbiodinium genotypes that includes thermotolerant types in low abundance. While tolerant symbiont types are hypothesized to facilitate tolerance to temperature and recovery from bleaching, empirical data on their distribution and relative abundance in corals under ambient and stress conditions are still rare. We quantified visual bleaching and mortality of coral hosts, along with relative abundance of C- and D-type Symbiodinium cells in 82 Acropora millepora colonies from three locations on the Great Barrier Reef transplanted to a central inshore site over a 13 month period. Our analyses reveal dynamic change in symbiont associations within colonies and among populations over time. Coral bleaching and declines in C-but not D-type symbionts were observed in transplanted corals. Survival and recovery of 25% of corals from one population was associated with either initial D-dominance or an increase in D-type symbionts that could be predicted by a minimum pre-stress D:C ratio of 0.003. One-third of corals from this population became D dominated at the bleached stage despite no initial detection of this symbiont type, but failed to recover and died in mid to late summer. These results provide a predictive threshold minimum density of background D-type symbionts in A. millepora, above which survival following extreme thermal stress is increased.

Item ID: 45655
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2054-5703
Keywords: Symbiodinium, coral, shuffling, thermal stress, physiological adaptation
Additional Information:

© 2016 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funders: Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
Date Deposited: 07 Sep 2016 07:36
FoR Codes: 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 50%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410102 Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9611 Physical and Chemical Conditions of Water > 961104 Physical and Chemical Conditions of Water in Marine Environments @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960808 Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 50%
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