Noonan, Sam H.C., Fabricius, Katharina E., and Humphrey, Craig (2013) Symbiodinium Community Composition in Scleractinian Corals Is Not Affected by Life-Long Exposure to Elevated Carbon Dioxide. PLoS ONE, 8 (5). e63985.

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Abstract

Ocean acidification (OA) is expected to negatively affect coral reefs, however little is known about how OA will change the coral-algal symbiosis on which reefs ultimately depend. This study investigated whether there would be differences in coralSymbiodinium types in response to OA, potentially improving coral performance. We used denaturing gradient gelelectrophoresis (DGGE) of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of ribosomal DNA to investigate the dominanttypes of Symbiodinium associating with six species of scleractinian coral that were exposed to elevated partial pressures ofcarbon dioxide (pCO2) in situ from settlement and throughout their lives. The study was conducted at three naturally occurring volcanic CO2 seeps (pCO2 ,500 to 900 ppm, pHTotal 7.8 – 7.9) and adjacent control areas (pCO2 ,390 ppm,pHTotal ,8.0 – 8.05) in Papua New Guinea. The Symbiodinium associated with corals living in an extreme seep site (pCO2.1000 ppm) were also examined. Ten clade C types and three clade D types dominated the 443 coral samples. Symbiodinium types strongly contrasted between coral species, however, no differences were observed due to CO2 exposure. Within five species, 85 – 95% of samples exhibited the same Symbiodinium type across all sites, with remaining rare types having no patterns attributable to CO2 exposure. The sixth species of coral displayed site specific differences in Symbiodinium types, unrelated to CO2 exposure. Symbiodinium types from the coral inhabiting the extreme CO2 seep sitewere found commonly throughout the moderate seeps and control areas. Our finding that symbiotic associations did not change in response to CO2 exposure suggest that, within the six coral hosts, none of the investigated 13 clade C and D Symbiodinium types had a selective advantage at high pCO2. Acclimatisation through changing symbiotic associationtherefore does not seem to be an option for Indo-Pacific corals to deal with future OA.

Item ID:	75725
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1932-6203
Related URLs:	https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/76917/
Copyright Information:	Copyright: © 2013 Noonan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Date Deposited:	30 Nov 2022 01:34
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310307 Population ecology @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3105 Genetics > 310599 Genetics not elsewhere classified @ 50%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100%
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