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Serrano X, Baums IB, O'Reilly K, Smith TB, Jones RJ, Shearer TL, Nunes FLD, Baker AC. Geographic differences in vertical connectivity in the Caribbean coralMontastraea cavernosadespite high levels of horizontal connectivity at shallow depths. Mol Ecol 2014; 23:4226-40. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.12861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2013] [Revised: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/11/2014] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- X. Serrano
- Department of Marine Biology and Ecology; Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science; University of Miami; 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami FL 33149 USA
| | - I. B. Baums
- Department of Biology; The Pennsylvania State University; 208 Mueller Laboratory University Park PA 16802 USA
| | - K. O'Reilly
- Department of Marine Biology and Ecology; Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science; University of Miami; 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami FL 33149 USA
| | - T. B. Smith
- Center for Marine and Environmental Studies; University of the Virgin Islands; #2 John Brewer's Bay St. Thomas USVI 00802-9990 USA
| | - R. J. Jones
- Australian Institute of Marine Science; The UWA Oceans Institute; 35 Stirling Highway Crawley WA 6009 Australia
| | - T. L. Shearer
- School of Biology; Georgia Institute of Technology; 310 Ferst Dr. Atlanta GA 30332 USA
| | - F. L. D. Nunes
- Laboratory of Artificial and Natural Evolution; Department of Genetics & Evolution; University of Geneva; Sciences III, 30 quai Ernest Ansermet 1211 Geneva 4 Switzerland
- Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin; Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer; Université de Bretagne Occidentale; Technopole Brest Iroise 29280 Plouzané France
| | - A. C. Baker
- Department of Marine Biology and Ecology; Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science; University of Miami; 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami FL 33149 USA
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Edge SE, Shearer TL, Morgan MB, Snell TW. Sub-lethal coral stress: detecting molecular responses of coral populations to environmental conditions over space and time. Aquat Toxicol 2013; 128-129:135-146. [PMID: 23291051 DOI: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2012.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2012] [Revised: 11/14/2012] [Accepted: 11/18/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
In order for sessile organisms to survive environmental fluctuations and exposures to pollutants, molecular mechanisms (i.e. stress responses) are elicited. Previously, detrimental effects of natural and anthropogenic stressors on coral health could not be ascertained until significant physiological responses resulted in visible signs of stress (e.g. tissue necrosis, bleaching). In this study, a focused anthozoan holobiont microarray was used to detect early and sub-lethal effects of spatial and temporal environmental changes on gene expression patterns in the scleractinian coral, Montastraea cavernosa, on south Florida reefs. Although all colonies appeared healthy (i.e. no visible tissue necrosis or bleaching), corals were differentially physiologically compensating for exposure to stressors that varied over time. Corals near the Port of Miami inlet experienced significant changes in expression of stress responsive and symbiont (zooxanthella)-specific genes after periods of heavy precipitation. In contrast, coral populations did not demonstrate stress responses during periods of increased water temperature (up to 29°C). Specific acute and long-term localized responses to other stressors were also evident. A correlation between stress response genes and symbiont-specific genes was also observed, possibly indicating early processes involved in the maintenance or disruption of the coral-zooxanthella symbiosis. This is the first study to reveal spatially- and temporally-related variation in gene expression in response to different stressors of in situ coral populations, and demonstrates that microarray technology can be used to detect specific sub-lethal physiological responses to specific environmental conditions that are not visually detectable.
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Affiliation(s)
- S E Edge
- Harbor Branch Oceanic Institute at FAU, Fort Pierce, FL 34946, United States.
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Abstract
Due to the importance of preserving the genetic integrity of populations, strategies to restore damaged coral reefs should attempt to retain the allelic diversity of the disturbed population; however, genetic diversity estimates are not available for most coral populations. To provide a generalized estimate of genetic diversity (in terms of allelic richness) of scleractinian coral populations, the literature was surveyed for studies describing the genetic structure of coral populations using microsatellites. The mean number of alleles per locus across 72 surveyed scleractinian coral populations was 8.27 (±0.75 SE). In addition, population genetic datasets from four species (Acropora palmata, Montastraea cavernosa, Montastraea faveolata and Pocillopora damicornis) were analyzed to assess the minimum number of donor colonies required to retain specific proportions of the genetic diversity of the population. Rarefaction analysis of the population genetic datasets indicated that using 10 donor colonies randomly sampled from the original population would retain >50% of the allelic diversity, while 35 colonies would retain >90% of the original diversity. In general, scleractinian coral populations are genetically diverse and restoration methods utilizing few clonal genotypes to re-populate a reef will diminish the genetic integrity of the population. Coral restoration strategies using 10-35 randomly selected local donor colonies will retain at least 50-90% of the genetic diversity of the original population.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. L. Shearer
- School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Dr., Atlanta, GA 30332-0230, USA
| | - I. Porto
- Depto. Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Carrera 1N° 18A 10, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - A. L. Zubillaga
- Depto. Biología de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Apartado 1080-A, Caracas, Venezuela
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Botsford LW, White JW, Coffroth MA, Paris CB, Planes S, Shearer TL, Thorrold SR, Jones GP. Connectivity and resilience of coral reef metapopulations in marine protected areas: matching empirical efforts to predictive needs. Coral Reefs 2009; 28:327-337. [PMID: 22833699 PMCID: PMC3402229 DOI: 10.1007/s00338-009-0466-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/01/2023]
Abstract
Design and decision-making for marine protected areas (MPAs) on coral reefs require prediction of MPA effects with population models. Modeling of MPAs has shown how the persistence of metapopulations in systems of MPAs depends on the size and spacing of MPAs, and levels of fishing outside the MPAs. However, the pattern of demographic connectivity produced by larval dispersal is a key uncertainty in those modeling studies. The information required to assess population persistence is a dispersal matrix containing the fraction of larvae traveling to each location from each location, not just the current number of larvae exchanged among locations. Recent metapopulation modeling research with hypothetical dispersal matrices has shown how the spatial scale of dispersal, degree of advection versus diffusion, total larval output, and temporal and spatial variability in dispersal influence population persistence. Recent empirical studies using population genetics, parentage analysis, and geochemical and artificial marks in calcified structures have improved the understanding of dispersal. However, many such studies report current self-recruitment (locally produced settlement/settlement from elsewhere), which is not as directly useful as local retention (locally produced settlement/total locally released), which is a component of the dispersal matrix. Modeling of biophysical circulation with larval particle tracking can provide the required elements of dispersal matrices and assess their sensitivity to flows and larval behavior, but it requires more assumptions than direct empirical methods. To make rapid progress in understanding the scales and patterns of connectivity, greater communication between empiricists and population modelers will be needed. Empiricists need to focus more on identifying the characteristics of the dispersal matrix, while population modelers need to track and assimilate evolving empirical results.
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Affiliation(s)
- L. W. Botsford
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - J. W. White
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - M.- A. Coffroth
- Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - C. B. Paris
- Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
| | - S. Planes
- Centre de Biologie et d’Ecologie Tropicale et Méditerranéenne, Université de Perpignan, Perpignan Cedex, France
| | - T. L. Shearer
- School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - S. R. Thorrold
- Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | - G. P. Jones
- School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
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Santos SR, Shearer TL, Hannes AR, Coffroth MA. Fine-scale diversity and specificity in the most prevalent lineage of symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium, Dinophyceae) of the Caribbean. Mol Ecol 2004; 13:459-69. [PMID: 14717900 DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2003.02058.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The success of coral reefs is due to obligate mutualistic symbioses involving invertebrates and photosynthetic dinoflagellate symbionts belonging to the genus Symbiodinium. In the Caribbean, the vast majority of octocorals and other invertebrate hosts associate with Symbiodinium clade B, and more selectively, with a single lineage of this clade, Symbiodinium B1/B184. Although B1/B184 represents the most prevalent Symbiodinium in the Caribbean, there is little evidence supporting fine-scale diversity and host-alga specificity within this lineage. We explored simultaneously the questions of diversity and specificity in Symbiodinium B1/B184 by sequencing the flanking regions of two polymorphic microsatellites from a series of Symbiodinium clade B cultures along with Symbiodinium B1/B184 populations of the octocorals Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae, P. bipinnata and Gorgonia ventalina. Seven unique sequence variants were identified based on concatenation of the two loci. Phylogenetic analyses of these variants, which we refer to as phylotypes, recognized five as belonging to B1/B184, thus providing the first evidence of distinct taxa within this Symbiodinium lineage. Furthermore, sympatric P. elisabethae and P. bipinnata at San Salvador in the Bahamas were found to harbour distinct Symbiodinium B1/B184 phylotypes, demonstrating unequivocally the existence of fine-scale specificity between Caribbean octocorals and these algae. Taken together, this study exemplifies the complex nature of Symbiodinium biodiversity and specificity.
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Affiliation(s)
- S R Santos
- Department of Biological Science, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
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Abstract
Mitochondrial genes have been used extensively in population genetic and phylogeographical analyses, in part due to a high rate of nucleotide substitution in animal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Nucleotide sequences of anthozoan mitochondrial genes, however, are virtually invariant among conspecifics, even at third codon positions of protein-coding sequences. Hence, mtDNA markers are of limited use for population-level studies in these organisms. Mitochondrial gene sequence divergence among anthozoan species is also low relative to that exhibited in other animals, although higher level relationships can be resolved with these markers. Substitution rates in anthozoan nuclear genes are much higher than in mitochondrial genes, whereas nuclear genes in other metazoans usually evolve more slowly than, or similar to, mitochondrial genes. Although several mechanisms accounting for a slow rate of sequence evolution have been proposed, there is not yet a definitive explanation for this observation. Slow evolution and unique characteristics may be common in primitive metazoans, suggesting that patterns of mtDNA evolution in these organisms differ from that in other animal systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- T L Shearer
- Department of Biological Sciences, 109 Cooke Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
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