Reproductive efficiency of a Mediterranean endemic zooxanthellate coral decreases with increasing temperature along a wide latitudinal gradient.

ABSTRACT: Investments at the organismal level towards reproduction and growth are often used as indicators of health. Understanding how such energy allocation varies with environmental conditions may, therefore, aid in predicting possible responses to global climatic change in the near future. For example, variations in seawater temperature may alter the physiological functioning, behavior, reproductive output and demographic traits (e.g., productivity) of marine organisms, leading to shifts in the structure, spatial range, and abundance of populations. This study investigated variations in reproductive output associated with local seawater temperature along a wide latitudinal gradient on the western Italian coast, in the zooxanthellate Mediterranean coral, Balanophyllia europaea. Reproductive poten

SUBMITTER: Airi V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3950289 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature