Gene expression plasticity facilitates acclimatization of a long-lived Caribbean coral across divergent reef environments.

ABSTRACT: Local adaptation can increase fitness under stable environmental conditions. However, in rapidly changing environments, compensatory mechanisms enabled through plasticity may better promote fitness. Climate change is causing devastating impacts on coral reefs globally and understanding the potential for adaptive and plastic responses is critical for reef management. We conducted a four-year, three-way reciprocal transplant of the Caribbean coral Siderastrea siderea across forereef, backreef, and nearshore populations in Belize to investigate the potential for environmental specialization versus plasticity in this species. Corals maintained high survival within forereef and backreef environments, but transplantation to nearshore environments resulted in high mortality, suggesting that nears

SUBMITTER: Castillo KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10991280 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature