Lamb, Annika M., Peplow, Lesa M., Chan, Wing Yan, Crane, Zoe J., Everson, Glenn A., Harrison, Peter L., Hite, Talley E., Hoffmann, Ary A., Humphrey, Craig A., Koukoumaftsis, Lonidas P., and van Oppen, Madeleine J.H. (2024) Fertile Hybrids Could Aid Coral Adaptation. Ecology and Evolution, 14 (11). e70570.

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Abstract

Fertile hybrids can enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of species under stress by increasing genetic diversity within populations, masking the effects of deleterious recessive alleles, and facilitating the introgression of beneficial genetic variants into parental species. However, many hybrids are infertile. We compared the fertility of aquarium-reared F1 hybrid and purebred corals of the species Acropora loripes and Acropora kenti and examined the viability of early life stages of second-generation (F2) hybrid and back-crossed planula larvae and recruits. The F1 hybrids spawned viable gametes and the F2 hybrid and back-crossed embryos developed into planula larvae and settled to become sessile coral recruits. The F1 hybrids had greater reproductive fitness than the F1 A. loripes purebred stock in an aquarium environment based on their probability of spawning and their fertilization success in crosses using their gametes. Interspecific coral hybrids can therefore be fertile and have high reproductive fitness, which could benefit the persistence of threatened coral reefs.

Item ID:	85296
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2045-7758
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2024 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2025 02:59
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180206 Rehabilitation or conservation of coastal or estuarine environments @ 40% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1901 Adaptation to climate change > 190102 Ecosystem adaptation to climate change @ 60%
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