ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7573-5920
Current Organisation
Australian Institute of Marine Science
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Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1016/BS.AMB.2022.07.001
Abstract: Among the most successful microeukaryotes to form mutualisms with animals are dinoflagellates in the family Symbiodiniaceae. These photosynthetic symbioses drive significant primary production and are responsible for the formation of coral reef ecosystems but are particularly sensitive when environmental conditions become extreme. Annual episodes of widespread coral bleaching (disassociation of the mutualistic partnership) and mortality are forecasted from the year 2060 under current trends of ocean warming. However, host cnidarians and dinoflagellate symbionts display exceptional genetic and functional ersity, and meaningful predictions of the future that embrace this biological complexity are difficult to make. A recent move to trait-based biology (and an understanding of how traits are shaped by the environment) has been adopted to move past this problem. The aim of this review is to: (1) provide an overview of the major cnidarian lineages that are symbiotic with Symbiodiniaceae (2) summarise the symbiodiniacean genera associated with cnidarians with reference to recent changes in taxonomy and systematics (3) examine the knowledge gaps in Symbiodiniaceae life history from a trait-based perspective (4) review Symbiodiniaceae trait variation along three abiotic gradients (light, nutrients, and temperature) and (5) provide recommendations for future research of Symbiodiniaceae traits. We anticipate that a detailed understanding of traits will further reveal basic knowledge of the evolution and functional ersity of these mutualisms, as well as enhance future efforts to model stability and change in ecosystems dependent on cnidarian-dinoflagellate organisms.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-01-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-020-00793-8
Abstract: The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2020
Abstract: Symbiodiniaceae are a erse family of marine dinoflagellates, well known as coral endosymbionts. Isolation and in vitro culture of Symbiodiniaceae strains for physiological studies is a widely adopted tool, especially in the context of understanding how environmental stress perturbs Symbiodiniaceae cell functioning. While the bacterial microbiomes of corals often correlate with coral health, the bacterial communities co-cultured with Symbiodiniaceae isolates have been largely overlooked, despite the potential of bacteria to significantly influence the emergent physiological properties of Symbiodiniaceae cultures. We examined the physiological response to heat stress by Symbiodiniaceae isolates (spanning three genera) with well-described thermal tolerances, and combined these observations with matched changes in bacterial composition and abundance through 16S rRNA metabarcoding. Under thermal stress, there were Symbiodiniaceae strain-specific changes in maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (proxy for health) and growth rates that were accompanied by changes in the relative abundance of multiple Symbiodiniaceae-specific bacteria. However, there were no Symbiodiniaceae-independent signatures of bacterial community reorganisation under heat stress. Notably, the thermally tolerant Durusdinium trenchii (ITS2 major profile D1a) had the most stable bacterial community under heat stress. Ultimately, this study highlights the complexity of Symbiodiniaceae-bacteria interactions and provides a first step towards uncoupling their relative contributions towards Symbiodiniaceae physiological functioning.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-09-2015
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-06-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-01-2022
DOI: 10.1002/LOM3.10479
Abstract: Active chlorophyll a fluorometry is a well‐established tool for noninvasively diagnosing coral functional state, but has not yet been developed as a rapid phenotyping (functional screening) platform as for agriculture and forestry. Here, we present a proof‐of‐concept using Light‐Induced Fluorescence Transient‐Fast Repetition Rate fluorometry (LIFT‐FRRf) to identify coral photobiological‐based phenotypes in the context of rapidly scaling coral propagation practices on the northern Great Barrier Reef. For ex le, resolving light niche plasticity to inform transplantation, and identifying functionally erse colonies to maximize stock selection. We first used optically erse laboratory‐reared corals and coral endosymbiont (Symbiodiniaceae) isolates to develop a phenotyping approach integrating FRRf instantaneous kinetic parameters (light harvesting, electron turnover rates) and light‐dependent parameters (dynamic “quenching” terms, saturating light intensity [ E K ]). Subsequent field‐based LIFT‐FRRf phenotyping of coral from a selective (2‐4 m depth) reef habitat revealed that widely topographically dispersed plating Acropora taxa exhibited broad light niche plasticity ( E K variance) underpinned by multiple phenotypes that were predominantly differentiated by minimum electron turnover capacity fluorometer configurations that cannot resolve kinetic parameters will thus likely have more limited capacity to resolve phenotypes. As such, plating Acropora have broad propagation potential in terms of multiple functional variants for stock and across erse light environments (growth, transplantation). In contrast, coral taxa ( Pocillopora verrucosa , Echinopora lamellosa ) with relatively restricted topographic dispersion exhibited less light niche plasticity and only single phenotypes, thereby imposing more constraints for propagation. We discuss the core technical, operational, and conceptual steps required to develop more sophisticated coral phenotyping platforms.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-04-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12870-022-03512-0
Abstract: Elements are the basis of life on Earth, whereby organisms are essentially evolved chemical substances that dynamically interact with each other and their environment. Determining species elemental quotas (their elementome) is a key indicator for their success across environments with different resource availabilities. Elementomes remain undescribed for functionally erse dinoflagellates within the family Symbiodiniaceae that includes coral endosymbionts. We used dry combustion and ICP-MS to assess whether Symbiodiniaceae (ten isolates spanning five genera Breviolum, Cladocopium, Durusdinium, Effrenium, Symbiodinium ) maintained under long-term nutrient replete conditions have unique elementomes (six key macronutrients and nine micronutrients) that would reflect evolutionarily conserved preferential elemental acquisition. For three isolates we assessed how elevated temperature impacted their elementomes. Further, we tested whether Symbiodiniaceae conform to common stoichiometric hypotheses (e.g., the growth rate hypothesis) documented in other marine algae. This study considers whether Symbiodiniaceae isolates possess unique elementomes reflective of their natural ecologies, evolutionary histories, and resistance to environmental change. Symbiodiniaceae isolates maintained under long-term luxury uptake conditions, all exhibited highly ergent elementomes from one another, driven primarily by differential content of micronutrients. All N:P and C:P ratios were below the Redfield ratio values, whereas C:N was close to the Redfield value. Elevated temperature resulted in a more homogenised elementome across isolates. The Family-level elementome was (C 19.8 N 2.6 P 1.0 S 18.8 K 0.7 Ca 0.1 ) · 1000 (Fe 55.7 Mn 5.6 Sr 2.3 Zn 0.8 Ni 0.5 Se 0.3 Cu 0.2 Mo 0.1 V 0.04 ) mmol Phosphorous -1 versus (C 25.4 N 3.1 P 1.0 S 23.1 K 0.9 Ca 0.4 ) · 1000 (Fe 66.7 Mn 6.3 Sr 7.2 Zn 0.8 Ni 0.4 Se 0.2 Cu 0.2 Mo 0.2 V 0.05 ) mmol Phosphorous -1 at 27.4 ± 0.4 °C and 30.7 ± 0.01 °C, respectively. Symbiodiniaceae isolates tested here conformed to some, but not all, stoichiometric principles. Elementomes for Symbiodiniaceae erge from those reported for other marine algae, primarily via lower C:N:P and different micronutrient expressions. Long-term maintenance of Symbiodiniaceae isolates in culture under common nutrient replete conditions suggests isolates have evolutionary conserved preferential uptake for certain elements that allows these unique elementomes to be identified. Micronutrient content (normalised to phosphorous) commonly increased in the Symbiodiniaceae isolates in response to elevated temperature, potentially indicating a common elemental signature to warming.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-04-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-09-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-05-2023
DOI: 10.1111/JPY.13340
Abstract: The existence of widespread species with the capacity to endure erse, or variable, environments are of importance to ecological and genetic research, and conservation. Such “ecological generalists” are more likely to have key adaptations that allow them to better tolerate the physiological challenges of rapid climate change. Reef‐building corals are dependent on endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Family: Symbiodiniaceae) for their survival and growth. While these symbionts are biologically erse, certain genetic types appear to have broad geographic distributions and are mutualistic with various host species from multiple genera and families in the order Scleractinia that must acquire their symbionts through horizontal transmission. Despite the considerable ecological importance of putative host‐generalist symbionts, they lack formal species descriptions. In this study, we used molecular, ecological, and morphological evidence to verify the existence of five new host‐generalist species in the symbiodiniacean genus Cladocopium . Their geographic distribution and prevalence among host communities corresponds to prevailing environmental conditions at both regional and local scales. The influence that each species has on host physiology may partially explain regional differences in thermal sensitivities among coral communities. The potential increased prevalence of a generalist species that endures environmental instability is a consequential ecological response to warming oceans. Large‐scale shifts in symbiont dominance could ensure reef coral persistence and productivity in the near term. Ultimately, these formal designations should advance scientific communication and generate informed research questions on the physiology and ecology of coral‐dinoflagellate mutualisms.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-12-2022
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 30-11-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-05-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-02383-Y
Abstract: Coral reefs are deteriorating under climate change as oceans continue to warm and acidify and thermal anomalies grow in frequency and intensity. In vitro experiments are widely used to forecast reef-building coral health into the future, but often fail to account for the complex ecological and biogeochemical interactions that govern reefs. Consequently, observations from coral communities under naturally occurring extremes have become central for improved predictions of future reef form and function. Here, we present a semi-enclosed lagoon system in New Caledonia characterised by diel fluctuations of hot-deoxygenated water coupled with tidally driven persistently low pH, relative to neighbouring reefs. Coral communities within the lagoon system exhibited high richness (number of species = 20) and cover (24–35% across lagoon sites). Calcification rates for key species ( Acropora formosa , Acropora pulchra , Coelastrea aspera and Porites lutea ) for populations from the lagoon were equivalent to, or reduced by ca . 30–40% compared to those from the reef. Enhanced coral respiration, alongside high particulate organic content of the lagoon sediment, suggests acclimatisation to this trio of temperature, oxygen and pH changes through heterotrophic plasticity. This semi-enclosed lagoon therefore provides a novel system to understand coral acclimatisation to complex climatic scenarios and may serve as a reservoir of coral populations already resistant to extreme environmental conditions.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-02-2020
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 09-09-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2022.912862
Abstract: Reef-building corals are among the largest producers of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), an essential compound in marine biogeochemical cycles. DMSP can be catabolised in coral mucus by a wide ersity of coral-associated bacteria, where it can either be demethylated, leading to the incorporation of sulfur and carbon into bacterial biomass – or cleaved by lyases, releasing the climatically-active gas dimethyl sulfide (DMS). It has been demonstrated that thermal stress increases DMSP concentrations in many coral species, however the effect of increased DMSP availability on coral-associated bacteria has not been explored. Here we performed thermal stress experiments to examine how changes in DMSP availability impact bacterial degradation pathways in the mucus of Acropora millepora . DMSP concentrations increased with temperature, reaching a maximum of 177.3 μM after 10 days of heat stress, which represents the highest concentration of DMSP recorded in any environment to date. Bacterial communities in coral mucus were significantly different from the surrounding seawater, yet they did not vary significantly between temperature or time. However, during thermal stress, when DMSP concentrations increased, a significant increase in the abundance of both the demethylation gene dmdA and the cleavage gene dddP were recorded. Importantly, our results show that for the highest DMSP concentrations recorded (above 30 μM), the cleavage pathway became more abundant than the demethylation pathway. This suggests that under high DMSP concentrations characteristic of heat stress, a larger fraction of the DMSP pool in the coral mucus is likely catabolised through the DMS-producing cleavage pathway.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-03-2020
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-05-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S00338-022-02259-2
Abstract: Increasing anthropogenic pressure on coral reefs is creating an urgent need to understand how and where corals can proliferate both now and under future scenarios. Resolving environmental limits of corals has progressed through the accurate identification of corals’ ‘realised ecological niche’. Here we expand the ecological niche concept to account for corals’ ‘biogeochemical niche’ (BN), defined as the chemical space in which a coral is adapted to survive, and which is identifiable by a unique quantity and proportion of elements (termed “elementome”). BN theory has been commonly applied to other taxa, successfully predicting species distributions and stress responses by their elementomes. Here, we apply the BN theory to corals for the first time, by using dry combustion and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine five key macronutrients and thirteen trace elements of four erse scleractinian coral species from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR): Acropora hyacinthus Echinopora lamellosa Pocillopora cf. meandrina and Pocillopora cf. verrucosa. The elementomes were investigated in both host and Symbiodiniaceae, and the latter had the highest elemental concentrations (except molybdenum). Each coral species associated with distinct members of the genus Cladocopium (determined by ITS2 analysis) with photo-physiological data suggesting specialisation of Cladocopium functional biology. Distinct endosymbiont community structure and functioning between corals with different elementomes confirms that BN theory holds as metabolic compatibility alters across host–symbiont associations. Additional work is needed to understand the plasticity of coral elementomes, and in turn BN, over space and time to aid predictions on coral distribution and survival with environmental change.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-08-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S00338-022-02292-1
Abstract: The ecological success of tropical corals is regulated by symbiotic dinoflagellate algae (Symbiodiniaceae). Corals can associate with multiple Symbiodiniaceae species simultaneously, yet the conditions that permit Symbiodiniaceae cohabitation are not understood. We examined how corals self-shade their own tissues causing within-colony light gradients that drive Symbiodiniaceae photoacclimatory processes and positional genetic disparity. Paired light ‘exposed’ and ‘shaded’ s les from 20 coral species were collected from a shallow coral reef (Rarotonga, Cook Islands). Through active chlorophyll fluorometry, rapid light curves revealed that exposed Symbiodiniaceae exhibited 50% higher values in minimum saturating irradiances and demonstrated a shift towards preferential nonphotochemical quenching [1 – Q], consistent with higher overall light exposure. High-throughput or targeted DNA sequencing of ITS2 and psbA ncr markers demonstrated that corals harboured distinct and/or differentially abundant Symbiodiniaceae ITS2 sequences (typically rare in relative abundance) or multiple ITS2 intragenomic variant profiles across shaded vs exposed regions. In Hydnophora cf. microconos , within-colony symbiont genetic disparity was positively correlated with the magnitude of difference in [1 – Q] utilisation. Together, these results suggest that within-colony light gradients produce distinct optical niches that enable symbiont cohabitation via photoadaptation, a phenomenon that is expected to increase the adaptive capacity of corals under future climates.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-01-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2021
DOI: 10.1111/JEU.12848
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-02-2017
DOI: 10.1111/JEU.12393
Abstract: Dinoflagellates within the genus Symbiodinium are photosymbionts of many tropical reef invertebrates, including corals, making them central to the health of coral reefs. Symbiodinium have therefore gained significant research attention, though studies have been constrained by technical limitations. In particular, the generation of viable cells with their cell walls removed (termed protoplasts) has enabled a wide range of experimental techniques for bacteria, fungi, plants, and algae such as ultrastructure studies, virus infection studies, patch cl ing, genetic transformation, and protoplast fusion. However, previous studies have struggled to remove the cell walls from armored dinoflagellates, potentially due to the internal placement of their cell walls. Here, we produce the first Symbiodinium protoplasts from three genetically and physiologically distinct strains via incubation with cellulase and osmotic agents. Digestion of the cell walls was verified by a lack of Calcofluor White fluorescence signal and by cell swelling in hypotonic culture medium. Fused protoplasts were also observed, motivating future investigation into intra- and inter-specific somatic hybridization of Symbiodinium. Following digestion and transfer to regeneration medium, protoplasts remained photosynthetically active, regrew cell walls, regained motility, and entered exponential growth. Generation of Symbiodinium protoplasts opens exciting, new avenues for researching these crucial symbiotic dinoflagellates, including genetic modification.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-05-2017
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.13718
Abstract: Anthropogenic nutrient inputs enhance microbial respiration within many coastal ecosystems, driving concurrent hypoxia and acidification. During photosynthesis, Symbiodinium spp., the microalgal endosymbionts of cnidarians and other marine phyla, produce O
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 02-05-2023
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.15023
Abstract: Within microeukaryotes, genetic variation and functional variation sometimes accumulate more quickly than morphological differences. To understand the evolutionary history and ecology of such lineages, it is key to examine ersity at multiple levels of organization. In the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae, which can form endosymbioses with cnidarians ( e.g ., corals, octocorals, sea anemones, jellyfish), other marine invertebrates ( e.g. , sponges, molluscs, flatworms), and protists ( e.g ., foraminifera), molecular data have been used extensively over the past three decades to describe phenotypes and to make evolutionary and ecological inferences. Despite advances in Symbiodiniaceae genomics, a lack of consensus among researchers with respect to interpreting genetic data has slowed progress in the field and acted as a barrier to reconciling observations. Here, we identify key challenges regarding the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae genetic ersity across three levels: species, populations, and communities. We summarize areas of agreement and highlight techniques and approaches that are broadly accepted. In areas where debate remains, we identify unresolved issues and discuss technologies and approaches that can help to fill knowledge gaps related to genetic and phenotypic ersity. We also discuss ways to stimulate progress, in particular by fostering a more inclusive and collaborative research community. We hope that this perspective will inspire and accelerate coral reef science by serving as a resource to those designing experiments, publishing research, and applying for funding related to Symbiodiniaceae and their symbiotic partnerships.
Publisher: University of Queensland Library
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-02-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.15719
Start Date: 2022
End Date: 2025
Funder: Marsden Fund
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