Importance of depth and temperature variability as drivers of coral symbiont composition despite a mass bleaching event.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs are iconic examples of climate change impacts because climate-induced heat stress causes the breakdown of the coral-algal symbiosis leading to a spectacular loss of color, termed 'coral bleaching'. To examine the fine-scale dynamics of this process, we re-sampled 600 individually marked Montipora capitata colonies from across Kāne'ohe Bay, Hawai'i and compared the algal symbiont composition before and after the 2019 bleaching event. The relative proportion of the heat-tolerant symbiont Durusdinium in corals increased in most parts of the bay following the bleaching event. Despite this widespread increase in abundance of Durusdinium, the overall algal symbiont community composition was largely unchanged, and hydrodynamically defined regions of the bay retained their distinct pre

SUBMITTER: de Souza MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10238383 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature