Spatial variation in the morphological traits of Pocillopora verrucosa along a depth gradient in Taiwan.

ABSTRACT: Pocillopora verrucosa is a widely distributed depth-generalist coral that presents plasticity in its skeletal macro- and microstructure in response to environmental gradients. Light and water movement, which covary with depth, are the main environmental drivers of morphological plasticity in this genus; however, assessing environmentally-induced plasticity may be confounded by the extent of interspecific variation in Pocillopora. We examine the morphology of 8 typed P. verrucosa specimens collected along a depth gradient ranging from 7 to 45 meters and comprising 3 sites throughout Ludao, Taiwan. We measured 36 morphological characters, 14 which are novel, in 3 regions on the corallum-the apex, branch and base-in order to quantify their relationship to site and depth. We found significant

SUBMITTER: Soto D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6097691 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature