Lamb, Annika M., Peplow, Lesa M., Dungan, Ashley M., Ferguson, Sophie N., Harrison, Peter L., Humphrey, Craig A., McCutchan, Guy A., Nitschke, Matthew R., and van Oppen, Madeleine J.H. (2024) Interspecific hybridisation provides a low-risk option for increasing genetic diversity of reef-building corals. Biology Open, 13 (9).

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Abstract

Interspecific hybridisation increases genetic diversity and has played a significant role in the evolution of corals in the genus Acropora. In vitro fertilisation can be used to increase the frequency of hybridisation among corals, potentially enhancing their ability to adapt to climate change. Here, we assessed the field performance of hybrids derived from the highly cross-fertile coral species Acropora sarmentosa and Acropora florida from the Great Barrier Reef. Following outplanting to an inshore reef environment, the 10-month survivorship of the hybrid offspring groups was intermediate between that of the purebred groups, although not all pairwise comparisons were statistically significant. The A. florida purebreds, which had the lowest survivorship, were significantly larger at 10 months post-deployment compared to the other three groups. The four offspring groups harboured the same intracellular photosymbiont communities (Symbiodiniaceae), indicating that observed performance differences were due to the coral host and not photosymbiont communities. The limited differences in the performance of the groups and the lack of outbreeding depression of the F1 hybrids in the field suggest that interspecific hybridisation may be a useful method to boost the genetic diversity, and as such increase the adaptive capacity, of coral stock for restoration of degraded and potentially genetically eroded populations.

Item ID:	85498
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2046-6390
Copyright Information:	This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC FL180100036
Date Deposited:	15 May 2025 00:01
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 60% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 40%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180206 Rehabilitation or conservation of coastal or estuarine environments @ 100%
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