Maternal effects and Symbiodinium community composition drive differential patterns in juvenile survival in the coral Acropora tenuis.

ABSTRACT: Coral endosymbionts in the dinoflagellate genus Symbiodinium are known to impact host physiology and have led to the evolution of reef-building, but less is known about how symbiotic communities in early life-history stages and their interactions with host parental identity shape the structure of coral communities on reefs. Differentiating the roles of environmental and biological factors driving variation in population demographic processes, particularly larval settlement, early juvenile survival and the onset of symbiosis is key to understanding how coral communities are structured and to predicting how they are likely to respond to climate change. We show that maternal effects (that here include genetic and/or effects related to the maternal environment) can explain nearly 24% of

SUBMITTER: Quigley KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5098987 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature