Publication Date:
2024-03-20
Description:
Coral reefs are currently experiencing substantial ecological impoverishment as a result of anthropogenic stressors, and the majority of reefs are facing immediate risk. Increasing ocean surface temperatures induce frequent coral mass bleaching events-the breakdown of the nutritional photo-symbiosis with intracellular algae (genus: Symbiodinium). Here, we report that Stylophora pistillata from a highly diverse reef in the Gulf of Aqaba showed no signs of bleaching despite spending 1.5 months at 1-2°C above their long-term summer maximum (amounting to 11 degree heating weeks) and a seawater pH of 7.8. Instead, their symbiotic dinoflagellates exhibited improved photochemistry, higher pigmentation and a doubling in net oxygen production, leading to a 51% increase in primary productivity. Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging revealed subtle cellular-level shifts in carbon and nitrogen metabolism under elevated temperatures, but overall host and symbiont biomass proxies were not significantly affected. Now living well below their thermal threshold in the Gulf of Aqaba, these corals have been evolutionarily selected for heat tolerance during their migration through the warm Southern Red Sea after the last ice age. This may allow them to withstand future warming for a longer period of time, provided that successful environmental conservation measures are enacted across national boundaries in the region.
Keywords:
Alkalinity, total; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Calcification rate of calcium carbonate; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbohydrates; Carbohydrates, per cell; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Catalase activity, unit per protein mass; Chlorophyll a per cell; Chlorophyll c2/chlorophyll a ratio; Chlorophyll c2 per cell; Chlorophyll total, areal concentration; Chlorophyll total, per cell; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or 〈 1 m**2); Experiment duration; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Gross photosynthesis/respiration ratio; Gross photosynthesis rate, oxygen; Growth/Morphology; Initial slope of rapid light curve; Laboratory experiment; Light saturation point; Maximal electron transport rate, relative; Maximum photochemical quantum yield of photosystem II; Net photosynthesis rate, oxygen; Net photosynthesis rate, oxygen, per chlorophyll a; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Other metabolic rates; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); pH; Primary production/Photosynthesis; Protein per cell; Protein per surface area; Red Sea; Registration number of species; Replicate; Respiration; Respiration rate, oxygen; Salinity; Single species; Species; Stylophora pistillata; Superoxide dismutase activity, unit per protein mass; Surface area; Symbiont cell density; Temperate; Temperature; Temperature, water; Treatment; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 1800 data points
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