ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1962-1336
Current Organisation
University of Technology Sydney
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Ecology | Ecological Impacts of Climate Change | Ecology | Environmental Chemistry (incl. Atmospheric Chemistry) | Invertebrate biology | Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation | Ecological physiology | Ecological Physiology
Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Physical and Chemical Conditions of Water in Marine Environments | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments |
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 08-10-2015
Publisher: F1000 Research Ltd
Date: 10-08-2017
DOI: 10.12688/F1000RESEARCH.11522.2
Abstract: Polyp bailout is an established but understudied coral stress response that involves the detachment of in idual polyps from the colonial form as a means of escaping unfavourable conditions. This may influence both the mortality and asexual recruitment of coral genotypes across a range of species. It has been observed in response to numerous stressors including high salinity and low pH. Polyp expulsion in association with thermal stress has once been described in a geographically restricted, temperate species. We therefore cannot reliably apply this observation to tropical coral reefs around the world, which are increasingly under threat from thermal stress events. We present the first qualitative observation of polyp bailout following acute temperature shock in a near-natural mesocosm experiment. Detached polyps show similar characteristics to those described in previous studies, including the retention of endosymbiotic zooxanthellae and the ability to disperse across short distances. This finding strongly suggests that polyp bailout occurs in tropical coral reef environments and warrants further detailed research into the implication of this response in terms of in idual survival, rapid migration into cooler micro-habitats and local recruitment within the reef environment and its coral community.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 02-02-2018
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-02-2018
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.195982
Abstract: Corals continuously adjust to short term variation in light availability on shallow reefs. Long-term light alterations can also occur due to natural and anthropogenic stressors, as well as management interventions such as coral transplantation. Although short term photophysiological responses are relatively well-understood in corals, little information is available regarding photoacclimation dynamics over weeks of altered light availability. We coupled photophysiology and metabolomic profiling to explore changes that accompany longer-term photoacclimation in a key Great Barrier Reef coral species (Acropora muricata). High (HL) and low light (LL) acclimated corals were collected from the reef and reciprocally exposed to high and low light ex situ. Rapid light curves using Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) fluorometry revealed photophysiological acclimation of LL to HL and HL to LL shifted corals within 21 days. A subset of colonies s led at 7 and 21 days for untargeted LC-MS and GC-MS metabolomic profiling revealed metabolic reorganization before acclimation was detected using PAM fluorometry. Metabolomic shifts were more pronounced for LL to HL treated corals than their HL to LL counterparts. Compounds driving metabolomic separation between HL-exposed and LL control colonies included amino acids, organic acids, fatty acids and sterols. Reduced glycerol and c esterol suggest decreased translocation of photosynthetic products from symbiont to host in LL to HL shifted corals, with concurrent increases in fatty acid abundance indicating reliance on stored lipids for energy. We discuss how these data provide novel insight into environmental regulation of metabolism and implications for management strategies that drive rapid changes in light availability.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-04-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14153
Abstract: Coral reefs are in a state of rapid global decline via environmental and climate change, and efforts have intensified to identify or engineer coral populations with increased resilience. Concurrent with these efforts has been increasing use of the popularized term "Super Coral" in both popular media and scientific literature without a unifying definition. However, how this subjective term is currently applied has the potential to mislead inference over factors contributing to coral survivorship, and the future trajectory of coral reef form and functioning. Here, we discuss that the information required to support a single definition does not exist, and in fact may never be appropriate, i.e. "How Super is Super"? Instead, we advocate caution of this term, and suggest a workflow that enables contextualization and clarification of superiority to ensure that inferred or asserted survivorship is appropriate into future reef projections. This is crucial to robustly unlock how "Super Corals" can be integrated into the suite of management options required to facilitate coral survival under rapid environmental and climate change.
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: 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: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2019.06.077
Abstract: Severe marine heatwaves have recently become a common feature of global ocean conditions due to a rapidly changing climate [1, 2]. These increasingly severe thermal conditions are causing an unprecedented increase in the frequency and severity of mortality events in marine ecosystems, including on coral reefs [3]. The degradation of coral reefs will result in the collapse of ecosystem services that sustain over half a billion people globally [4, 5]. Here, we show that marine heatwave events on coral reefs are biologically distinct to how coral bleaching has been understood to date, in that heatwave conditions result in an immediate heat-induced mortality of the coral colony, rapid coral skeletal dissolution, and the loss of the three-dimensional reef structure. During heatwave-induced mortality, the coral skeletons exposed by tissue loss are, within days, encased by a complex biofilm of phototrophic microbes, whose metabolic activity accelerates calcium carbonate dissolution to rates exceeding accretion by healthy corals and far greater than has been documented on reefs under normal seawater conditions. This dissolution reduces the skeletal density and hardness and increases porosity. These results demonstrate that severe-heatwave-induced mortality events should be considered as a distinct biological phenomenon from bleaching events on coral reefs. We also suggest that such heatwave mortality events, and rapid reef decay, will become more frequent as the intensity of marine heatwaves increases and provides further compelling evidence for the need to mitigate climate change and instigate actions to reduce marine heatwaves.
Publisher: Portland Press Ltd.
Date: 06-2017
DOI: 10.1042/CS20170063
Abstract: Phosphoinositide 3-kinase [PI3K (p110α)] is able to negatively regulate the diabetes-induced increase in NADPH oxidase in the heart. Patients affected by diabetes exhibit significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, at least in part due to a cardiomyopathy characterized by oxidative stress and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. Thus, PI3K (p110α) may represent a novel approach to protect the heart from diabetes-induced cardiac oxidative stress and dysfunction. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of a delayed intervention with cardiac-targeted PI3K gene therapy, administered to mice with established diabetes-induced LV diastolic dysfunction. Diabetes was induced in 6-week-old male mice by streptozotocin (STZ). After 8 weeks of untreated diabetes, LV diastolic dysfunction was confirmed by a reduction in echocardiography-derived transmitral E/A ratio. Diabetic and non-diabetic mice were randomly allocated to receive either recombinant adeno-associated viral vector-6 carrying a constitutively-active PI3K construct (recombinant adeno-associated-virus 6-constitutively active PI3K (p110α) (caPI3K) (rAAV6-caPI3K), single i.v. injection, 2 × 1011 vector genomes) or null vector, and were followed for a further 6 or 8 weeks. At study endpoint, diabetes-induced LV dysfunction was significantly attenuated by a single administration of rAAV6-caPI3K, administered 8 weeks after the induction of diabetes. Diabetes-induced impairments in each of LV NADPH oxidase, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, apoptosis, cardiac fibrosis and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, in addition to LV systolic dysfunction, were attenuated by delayed intervention with rAAV6-caPI3K. Hence, our demonstration that cardiac-targeted PI3K (p110α) gene therapy limits diabetes-induced up-regulation of NADPH oxidase and cardiac remodelling suggests new insights into promising approaches for the treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy, at a clinically relevant time point (after diastolic dysfunction is manifested).
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-04-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-01-2019
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.4662
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-02-2020
DOI: 10.1002/LNO.11416
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-02-2021
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 20-11-2018
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: The Royal Society
Date: 25-05-2016
Abstract: Corals are acclimatized to populate dynamic habitats that neighbour coral reefs. Habitats such as seagrass beds exhibit broad diel changes in temperature and pH that routinely expose corals to conditions predicted for reefs over the next 50–100 years. However, whether such acclimatization effectively enhances physiological tolerance to, and hence provides refuge against, future climate scenarios remains unknown. Also, whether corals living in low-variance habitats can tolerate present-day high-variance conditions remains untested. We experimentally examined how pH and temperature predicted for the year 2100 affects the growth and physiology of two dominant Caribbean corals ( Acropora palmata and Porites astreoides ) native to habitats with intrinsically low (outer-reef terrace, LV) and/or high (neighbouring seagrass, HV) environmental variance. Under present-day temperature and pH, growth and metabolic rates (calcification, respiration and photosynthesis) were unchanged for HV versus LV populations. Superimposing future climate scenarios onto the HV and LV conditions did not result in any enhanced tolerance to colonies native to HV. Calcification rates were always lower for elevated temperature and/or reduced pH. Together, these results suggest that seagrass habitats may not serve as refugia against climate change if the magnitude of future temperature and pH changes is equivalent to neighbouring reef habitats.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2012
Publisher: Portland Press Ltd.
Date: 28-02-2022
DOI: 10.1042/ETLS20210232
Abstract: Reducing the global reliance on fossil fuels is essential to ensure the long-term survival of coral reefs, but until this happens, alternative tools are required to safeguard their future. One emerging tool is to locate areas where corals are surviving well despite the changing climate. Such locations include refuges, refugia, hotspots of resilience, bright spots, contemporary near-pristine reefs, and hope spots that are collectively named reef ‘safe havens' in this mini-review. Safe havens have intrinsic value for reefs through services such as environmental buffering, maintaining near-pristine reef conditions, or housing corals naturally adapted to future environmental conditions. Spatial and temporal variance in physicochemical conditions and exposure to stress however preclude certainty over the ubiquitous long-term capacity of reef safe havens to maintain protective service provision. To effectively integrate reef safe havens into proactive reef management and contingency planning for climate change scenarios, thus requires an understanding of their differences, potential values, and predispositions to stress. To this purpose, I provide a high-level review on the defining characteristics of different coral reef safe havens, how they are being utilised in proactive reef management and what risk and susceptibilities they inherently have. The mini-review concludes with an outline of the potential for reef safe haven habitats to support contingency planning of coral reefs under an uncertain future from intensifying climate change.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 11-01-2021
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0244961
Abstract: Coral reefs are deteriorating worldwide prompting reef managers and stakeholders to increasingly explore new management tools. Following back-to-back bleaching in 2016/2017, multi-taxa coral nurseries were established in 2018 for the first time on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to aid reef maintenance and restoration at a “high-value” location–Opal Reef–frequented by the tourism industry. Various coral species (n = 11) were propagated within shallow water (ca. 4-7m) platforms installed across two sites characterised by differing environmental exposure–one adjacent to a deep-water channel (Blue Lagoon) and one that was relatively sheltered (RayBan). Growth rates of coral fragments placed onto nurseries were highly variable across taxa but generally higher at Blue Lagoon (2.1–10.8 cm 2 month -1 over 12 months) compared to RayBan (0.6–6.6 cm 2 month -1 over 9 months). Growth at Blue Lagoon was largely independent of season, except for Acropora tenuis and Acropora hyacinthus , where growth rates were 15–20% higher for December 2018-July 2019 (“warm season”) compared to August-December 2018 (“cool season”). Survivorship across all 2,536 nursery fragments was ca. 80–100%, with some species exhibiting higher survivorship at Blue Lagoon ( Acropora loripes , Porites cylindrica ) and others at RayBan ( A . hyacinthus , Montipora hispida ). Parallel measurements of growth and survivorship were used to determine relative return-on-effort (RRE) scores as an integrated metric of “success” accounting for life history trade-offs, complementing the mutually exclusive assessment of growth or survivorship. RRE scores within sites (across species) were largely driven by growth, whereas RRE scores between sites were largely driven by survivorship. The initial nursery phase of coral propagation therefore appears useful to supplement coral material naturally available for stewardship of frequently visited Great Barrier Reef tourism (high-value) sites, but further assessment is needed to evaluate how well the growth rates and survival for nursery grown corals translate once material is outplanted.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-04-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-42434-0
Abstract: Global threats to reefs require urgent efforts to resolve coral attributes that affect survival in a changing environment. Genetically different in iduals of the same coral species are known to exhibit different responses to the same environmental conditions. New information on coral physiology, particularly as it relates to genotype, could aid in unraveling mechanisms that facilitate coral survival in the face of stressors. Metabolomic profiling detects a large subset of metabolites in an organism, and, when linked to metabolic pathways, can provide a snapshot of an organism’s physiological state. Identifying metabolites associated with desirable, genotype-specific traits could improve coral selection for restoration and other interventions. A key step toward this goal is determining whether intraspecific variation in coral metabolite profiles can be detected for species of interest, however little information exists to illustrate such differences. To address this gap, we applied untargeted 1 H-NMR and LC-MS metabolomic profiling to three genotypes of the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis . Both methods revealed distinct metabolite “fingerprints” for each genotype examined. A number of metabolites driving separation among genotypes were identified or putatively annotated. Pathway analysis suggested differences in protein synthesis among genotypes. For the first time, these data illustrate intraspecific variation in metabolomic profiles for corals in a common garden. Our results contribute to the growing body of work on coral metabolomics and suggest future work could identify specific links between phenotype and metabolite profile in corals.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-10-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-01-2019
DOI: 10.1111/REC.12916
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-05-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S00227-023-04235-Y
Abstract: Coral propagation and out-planting are becoming commonly adopted as part of reef stewardship strategies aimed at improving reef resilience through enhanced natural recovery and rehabilitation. The coral microbiome has a crucial role in the success of the coral holobiont and can be impacted shortly after out-planting. However, long-term characterisation of the out-plant microbiome in relation to out-plant survival, and how these properties vary across reef sites, is unexplored. Therefore, at three reef sites on Opal Reef, Great Barrier Reef (Mojo, Sandbox and Rayban, 16°12′18″S 145°53′54″E), we examined bacterial communities associated with out-planted Acropora millepora coral and monitored coral survival over 12 months (February 2021–22). Bacterial communities of out-planted corals exhibited significant changes from donor colonies 7 days to 1.5 months after out-planting. Further, bacterial community composition differed for sites Sandbox and Rayban with low overall survival (0–43%) versus Mojo with higher overall survival (47–75%). After initial dissimilarity in bacterial communities of out-plants across sites at 1.5 months, and despite changes within sites over time, out-plants exhibited similar microbial communities across sites at 7 days and 6, 9 and 12 months. We hypothesise these trends reflect how bacterial communities are shaped by rapid changes in local environmental characteristics (e.g. from source to out-planting site), where out-plant bacterial communities ‘conform’ to out-planting site conditions. After initial changes, out-plant bacterial communities may then be under the influence of global environmental conditions—such as annual trends in temperature across seasons. Such outcomes indicate the importance of site selection in shaping initial coral bacterial communities and subsequent out-plant success. Importantly, continued differences in out-plant survival trajectory but similar bacterial communities across sites after 1.5 months indicate that other factors—apart from bacterial community changes—likely govern out-plant success in the longer term. Our research highlights the need to resolve drivers of small-scale site differences alongside higher resolution spatiotemporal monitoring of environmental conditions to distinguish key drivers of (i) microbial change during out-planting and (ii) out-plant survival to subsequently inform out-plant site selection to optimise future restoration efforts.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 30-03-2016
Abstract: Global marine bio ersity peaks within the Coral Triangle, and understanding how such high ersity is maintained is a central question in marine ecology. We investigated broad-scale patterns in the ersity of clownfishes and their host sea anemones by conducting 981 belt-transects at 20 locations throughout the Indo-Pacific. Of the 1508 clownfishes encountered, 377 fish occurred in interspecific cohabiting groups and cohabitation was almost entirely restricted to the Coral Triangle. Neither the ersity nor density of host anemone or clownfish species alone influenced rates of interspecific cohabitation. Rather cohabitation occurred in areas where the number of clownfish species exceeds the number of host anemone species. In the Coral Triangle, cohabiting in iduals were observed to finely partition their host anemone, with the subordinate species inhabiting the periphery. Furthermore, aggression did not increase in interspecific cohabiting groups, instead dominant species were accepting of subordinate species. Various combinations of clownfish species were observed cohabiting (independent of body size, phylogenetic relatedness, evolutionary age, dentition, level of specialization) in a range of anemone species, thereby ensuring that each clownfish species had dominant reproductive in iduals in some cohabiting groups. Clownfishes are obligate commensals, thus cohabitation is an important process in maintaining bio ersity in high ersity systems because it supports the persistence of many species when host availability is limiting. Cohabitation is a likely explanation for high species richness in other obligate commensals within the Coral Triangle, and highlights the importance of protecting these habitats in order to conserve unique marine bio ersity.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2022
DOI: 10.1111/BRV.12922
Abstract: The juxtaposition of highly productive coral reef ecosystems in oligotrophic waters has spurred substantial interest and progress in our understanding of macronutrient uptake, exchange, and recycling among coral holobiont partners (host coral, dinoflagellate endosymbiont, endolithic algae, fungi, viruses, bacterial communities). By contrast, the contribution of trace metals to the physiological performance of the coral holobiont and, in turn, the functional ecology of reef‐building corals remains unclear. The coral holobiont's trace metal economy is a network of supply, demand, and exchanges upheld by cross‐kingdom symbiotic partnerships. Each partner has unique trace metal requirements that are central to their biochemical functions and the metabolic stability of the holobiont. Organismal homeostasis and the exchanges among partners determine the ability of the coral holobiont to adjust to fluctuating trace metal supplies in heterogeneous reef environments. This review details the requirements for trace metals in core biological processes and describes how metal exchanges among holobiont partners are key to sustaining complex nutritional symbioses in oligotrophic environments. Specifically, we discuss how trace metals contribute to partner compatibility, ability to cope with stress, and thereby to organismal fitness and distribution. Beyond holobiont trace metal cycling, we outline how the dynamic nature of the availability of environmental trace metal supplies can be influenced by a variability of abiotic factors (e.g. temperature, light, pH, etc.). Climate change will have profound consequences on the availability of trace metals and further intensify the myriad stressors that influence coral survival. Lastly, we suggest future research directions necessary for understanding the impacts of trace metals on the coral holobiont symbioses spanning subcellular to organismal levels, which will inform nutrient cycling in coral ecosystems more broadly. Collectively, this cross‐scale elucidation of the role of trace metals for the coral holobiont will allow us to improve forecasts of future coral reef function.
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: 28-07-2023
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-023-39651-7
Abstract: The alarming rate of climate change demands new management strategies to protect coral reefs. Environments such as mangrove lagoons, characterized by extreme variations in multiple abiotic factors, are viewed as potential sources of stress-tolerant corals for strategies such as assisted evolution and coral propagation. However, biological trade-offs for adaptation to such extremes are poorly known. Here, we investigate the reef-building coral Porites lutea thriving in both mangrove and reef sites and show that stress-tolerance comes with compromises in genetic and energetic mechanisms and skeletal characteristics. We observe reduced genetic ersity and gene expression variability in mangrove corals, a disadvantage under future harsher selective pressure. We find reduced density, thickness and higher porosity in coral skeletons from mangroves, symptoms of metabolic energy redirection to stress response functions. These findings demonstrate the need for caution when utilizing stress-tolerant corals in human interventions, as current survival in extremes may compromise future competitive fitness.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-04-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-01-2022
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 08-02-2023
Abstract: Anthropogenic stressors continue to escalate worldwide, driving unprecedented declines in reef environmental conditions and coral health. One approach to better understand how corals can function in the future is to examine coral populations that thrive within present day naturally extreme habitats. We applied untargeted metabolomics (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS)) to contrast metabolite profiles of Pocillopora acuta colonies from hot, acidic and deoxygenated mangrove environments versus those from adjacent reefs. Under ambient temperatures, P. acuta predominantly associated with endosymbionts of the genera Cladocopium (reef) or Durusdinium (mangrove), exhibiting elevated metabolism in mangrove through energy-generating and biosynthesis pathways compared to reef populations. Under transient heat stress, P. acuta endosymbiont associations were unchanged. Reef corals bleached and exhibited extensive shifts in symbiont metabolic profiles (whereas host metabolite profiles were unchanged). By contrast, mangrove populations did not bleach and solely the host metabolite profiles were altered, including cellular responses in inter-partner signalling, antioxidant capacity and energy storage. Thus mangrove P. acuta populations resist periodically high-temperature exposure via association with thermally tolerant endosymbionts coupled with host metabolic plasticity. Our findings highlight specific metabolites that may be biomarkers of heat tolerance, providing novel insight into adaptive coral resilience to elevated temperatures.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-11-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2019
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 09-10-2013
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 30-11-2017
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 25-10-2021
DOI: 10.3389/FMICB.2021.756091
Abstract: It has been proposed that an effective approach for predicting whether and how reef-forming corals persist under future climate change is to examine populations thriving in present day extreme environments, such as mangrove lagoons, where water temperatures can exceed those of reef environments by more than 3°C, pH levels are more acidic (pH & 7.9, often below 7.6) and O 2 concentrations are regularly considered hypoxic (& mg/L). Defining the physiological features of these “extreme” corals, as well as their relationships with the, often symbiotic, organisms within their microbiome, could increase our understanding of how corals will persist into the future. To better understand coral-microbe relationships that potentially underpin coral persistence within extreme mangrove environments, we therefore conducted a 9-month reciprocal transplant experiment, whereby specimens of the coral Pocillopora acuta were transplanted between adjacent mangrove and reef sites on the northern Great Barrier Reef. Bacterial communities associated with P. acuta specimens native to the reef environment were dominated by Endozoicomonas , while Symbiodiniaceae communities were dominated by members of the Cladocopium genus. In contrast, P. acuta colonies native to the mangrove site exhibited highly erse bacterial communities with no dominating members, and Symbiodiniaceae communities dominated by Durusdinium. All corals survived for 9 months after being transplanted from reef-to-mangrove, mangrove-to-reef environments (as well as control within environment transplants), and during this time there were significant changes in the bacterial communities, but not in the Symbiodiniaceae communities or their photo-physiological functioning. In reef-to-mangrove transplanted corals, there were varied, but sometimes rapid shifts in the associated bacterial communities, including a loss of “core” bacterial members after 9 months where coral bacterial communities began to resemble those of the native mangrove corals. Bacterial communities associated with mangrove-to-reef P. acuta colonies also changed from their original composition, but remained different to the native reef corals. Our data demonstrates that P. acuta associated bacterial communities are strongly influenced by changes in environmental conditions, whereas Symbiodiniaceae associated communities remain highly stable.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-02-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.TIM.2017.06.007
Abstract: In marine ecosystems microbial communities are critical to ocean function, global primary productivity, and biogeochemical cycles. Both prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes are essential symbionts and mutualists, nonpathogenic invaders, primary pathogens, have been linked to disease emergence, and can underpin broader ecosystem changes. However, in the effort to determine coral-microbial interactions, the structure and function of the eukaryotic microbes of the microbiome have been studied less. Eukaryotic microbes are important members of the microbiome, constitute entire kingdoms of life, and make important contributions to ecosystem function. Here, we outline the roles of eukaryotic microbes in marine systems and their contribution to ecosystem change, and discuss the microeukaryotic microbiome of corals and coral reefs.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-04-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-022-01258-W
Abstract: The Symbiodiniaceae are a taxonomically and functionally erse family of marine dinoflagellates. Their symbiotic relationship with invertebrates such as scleractinian corals has made them the focus of decades of research to resolve the underlying biology regulating their sensitivity to stressors, particularly thermal stress. Research to-date suggests that Symbiodiniaceae stress sensitivity is governed by a complex interplay between phylogenetic dependent and independent traits ( ersity of characteristics of a species). Consequently, there is a need for datasets that simultaneously broadly resolve molecular and physiological processes under stressed and non-stressed conditions. Therefore, we provide a dataset simultaneously generating transcriptome, metabolome, and proteome data for three ecologically important Symbiodiniaceae isolates under nutrient replete growth conditions and two temperature treatments (ca. 26 °C and 32 °C). Elevated sea surface temperature is primarily responsible for coral bleaching events that occur when the coral-Symbiodiniaceae relationship has been disrupted. Symbiodiniaceae can strongly influence their host’s response to thermal stress and consequently it is necessary to resolve drivers of Symbiodiniaceae heat stress tolerance. We anticipate these datasets to expand our understanding on the key genotypic and functional properties that influence the sensitivities of Symbiodiniaceae to thermal stress.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13070
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-07-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S00248-021-01823-7
Abstract: Bacterial members of the coral holobiont play an important role in determining coral fitness. However, most knowledge of the coral microbiome has come from reef-building scleractinian corals, with far less known about the nature and importance of the microbiome of octocorals (subclass Octocorallia), which contribute significantly to reef bio ersity and functional complexity. We examined the ersity and structure of the bacterial component of octocoral microbiomes over summer and winter, with a focus on two temperate (Erythropodium hicksoni, Capnella gaboensis Sydney Harbour) and two tropical (Sinularia sp., Sarcophyton sp. Heron Island) species common to reefs in eastern Australia. Bacterial communities associated with these octocorals were also compared to common temperate (Plesiastrea versipora) and tropical (Acropora aspera) hard corals from the same reefs. Using 16S rRNA licon sequencing, bacterial ersity was found to be heterogeneous among octocorals, but we observed changes in composition between summer and winter for some species (C. gaboensis and Sinularia sp.), but not for others (E. hicksoni and Sarcophyton sp.). Bacterial community structure differed significantly between all octocoral species within both the temperate and tropical environments. However, on a seasonal basis, those differences were less pronounced. The microbiomes of C. gaboensis and Sinularia sp. were dominated by bacteria belonging to the genus Endozoicomonas, which were a key conserved feature of their core microbiomes. In contrast to previous studies, our analysis revealed that Endozoicomonas phylotypes are shared across different octocoral species, inhabiting different environments. Together, our data demonstrates that octocorals harbour a broad ersity of bacterial partners, some of which comprise 'core microbiomes' that potentially impart important functional roles to their hosts.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
Publisher: Bulletin of Marine Science
Date: 04-2013
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 29-08-2019
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS13073
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 09-2023
End Date: 08-2026
Amount: $611,798.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2019
End Date: 07-2022
Amount: $396,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity