Heritable differences in fitness-related traits among populations of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides.

ABSTRACT: A population's potential for rapid evolutionary adaptation can be estimated from the amount of genetic variation in fitness-related traits. Inshore populations of the mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides) have been shown to be more tolerant to thermal stress than offshore populations, but it is unclear whether this difference is due to long-term physiological acclimatization or genetic adaptation. Here, we evaluated variation in growth rate and survival among 38 families of juvenile recruits of P. astreoides spawned by colonies originating from inshore and offshore locations. Recruits were reared in a common garden for 5 weeks and then subjected to two thermal treatments (28  and 31 °C) for 2.5 weeks. The most significant effects were detected during the first 5 weeks, before thermal str

SUBMITTER: Kenkel CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4806898 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature