Dataset Information

Diverse staghorn corals (Acropora) in high-latitude Eocene assemblages: implications for the evolution of modern diversity patterns of reef corals.

ABSTRACT: Acropora is the most diverse genus of reef-building corals in the world today. It occurs in all three major oceans; it is restricted to latitudes 31 degrees N-31 degrees S, where most coral reefs occur, and reaches greatest diversity in the central Indo-Pacific. As an exemplar genus, the long-term history of Acropora has implications for the evolution and origins of present day biodiversity patterns of reef corals and for predicting their response to future climate change. Diversification of Acropora was thought to have occurred in the central Indo-Pacific within the previous two million years. We examined Eocene fossils from southern England and northern France and found evidence that precursors of up to nine of 20 currently recognized Acropora species groups existed 49-34 Myr, at palaeolatitudes far higher than current limits, to 51 degrees N. We propose that pre-existing diversity contributed to later rapid speciation in this important functional group of corals.

SUBMITTER: Wallace CC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1560246 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Diverse staghorn corals (Acropora) in high-latitude Eocene assemblages: implications for the evolution of modern diversity patterns of reef corals.

Wallace Carden C CC Rosen Brian R BR

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20060401 1589

Acropora is the most diverse genus of reef-building corals in the world today. It occurs in all three major oceans; it is restricted to latitudes 31 degrees N-31 degrees S, where most coral reefs occur, and reaches greatest diversity in the central Indo-Pacific. As an exemplar genus, the long-term history of Acropora has implications for the evolution and origins of present day biodiversity patterns of reef corals and for predicting their response to future climate change. Diversification of Acr ...[more]

PMID: 16627283

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Project description:In 2016, global temperatures were the highest on record, and mass coral bleaching occurred world-wide. However, around Sesoko Island, Okinawa, southwestern Japan, the heat stress assessed by degree heating week (DHW) based on local temperature measurements was moderate in 2016; in 1998, DHW was three times higher than in 2016 (10.6 vs. 3.3 in September in respective years). On a reef flat of Sesoko Island where the effect of severe coral bleaching on coral assemblage was monitored in 1998, significant coral bleaching occurred in 2016. Bleaching of the heat stress sensitive Acropora corals began in July 2016 on the reef flat as seawater temperature rose. We observed the bleaching and post-bleaching mortality status of individual colonies of Acropora spp. in 2016 in fixed plots on the reef flat. In total, 123 Acropora colonies were followed for six months after seawater temperature became normal by multiple surveys. At the beginning of September 2016, 99.2% of colonies, were either completely (92.7%) or partially (6.5%) bleached. Of those, the dominant species or species groups were A. gemmifera (Ag), A. digitifera (Ad), and tabular Acropora (tA). For all Acropora colonies, the overall whole and partial mortality was 41.5% and 11.4%, respectively. Whole mortality rate differed significantly among species; 72.5%, 17.9%, and 27.8% in Ag, Ad, and tA, respectively. Mortality rates at the end of the surveys were similar in smaller (?10 cm in diameter) and larger Ag, but the former suffered mortality earlier than the latter. Higher survival of smaller colonies was observed only in tA (100%), which may be associated with large morphological differences between smaller and larger colonies. Some of the dominant Acropora colonies had survived without partial mortality including 15.0% survival of the most vulnerable Ag at the end of the surveys. These results suggest that moderate heat stress may have a potential for selecting heat-tolerant genotypes. A longer period of mortality lasting for six months, was observed in Ag in addition to immediate whole mortality after bleaching, due to the continuous loss of living tissue by partial mortality. This highlights the need for multiple surveys at least during several months to accurately assess the impact of thermal stress event to corals. In contrast to DHW based on local measurements, DHW obtained from satellite data were similar between 1998 and 2016. Although satellite-based measurement of sea surface temperature is very useful to reveal variations in heat stress at a large spatial scale, temperature should be measured on site when variations at smaller spatial scales are of interest.

Project description:BackgroundScleractinian corals are the foundation of reef ecosystems in tropical marine environments. Their great success is due to interactions with endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.), with which they are obligately symbiotic. To develop a foundation for studying coral biology and coral symbiosis, we have constructed a set of cDNA libraries and generated and annotated ESTs from two species of corals, Acropora palmata and Montastraea faveolata.ResultsWe generated 14,588 (Ap) and 3,854 (Mf) high quality ESTs from five life history/symbiosis stages (spawned eggs, early-stage planula larvae, late-stage planula larvae either infected with symbionts or uninfected, and adult coral). The ESTs assembled into a set of primarily stage-specific clusters, producing 4,980 (Ap), and 1,732 (Mf) unigenes. The egg stage library, relative to the other developmental stages, was enriched in genes functioning in cell division and proliferation, transcription, signal transduction, and regulation of protein function. Fifteen unigenes were identified as candidate symbiosis-related genes as they were expressed in all libraries constructed from the symbiotic stages and were absent from all of the non symbiotic stages. These include several DNA interacting proteins, and one highly expressed unigene (containing 17 cDNAs) with no significant protein-coding region. A significant number of unigenes (25) encode potential pattern recognition receptors (lectins, scavenger receptors, and others), as well as genes that may function in signaling pathways involved in innate immune responses (toll-like signaling, NFkB p105, and MAP kinases). Comparison between the A. palmata and an A. millepora EST dataset identified ferritin as a highly expressed gene in both datasets that appears to be undergoing adaptive evolution. Five unigenes appear to be restricted to the Scleractinia, as they had no homology to any sequences in the nr databases nor to the non-scleractinian cnidarians Nematostella vectensis and Hydra magnipapillata.ConclusionPartial sequencing of 5 cDNA libraries each for A. palmata and M. faveolata has produced a rich set of candidate genes (4,980 genes from A. palmata, and 1,732 genes from M. faveolata) that we can use as a starting point for examining the life history and symbiosis of these two species, as well as to further expand the dataset of cnidarian genes for comparative genomics and evolutionary studies.

Dataset Information

Diverse staghorn corals (Acropora) in high-latitude Eocene assemblages: implications for the evolution of modern diversity patterns of reef corals.

Publications

Diverse staghorn corals (Acropora) in high-latitude Eocene assemblages: implications for the evolution of modern diversity patterns of reef corals.

Similar Datasets

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