Trophic strategy and bleaching resistance in reef-building corals.

Sci Adv

The Swire Institute of Marine Science and the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China.

Published: April 2020

AI Article Synopsis

  • Ocean warming leads to coral bleaching, which affects the nutrition corals receive from their algal partners, creating a risk of widespread coral mortality.
  • The study used Bayesian analysis of isotopic data to explore the relationship between corals and their symbionts, focusing on their roles in the ecosystem.
  • Findings suggest that as ocean temperatures rise, corals that rely mainly on autotrophy face greater challenges, making them more vulnerable to disappearing from coral reefs compared to other types of corals.

Article Abstract

Ocean warming increases the incidence of coral bleaching, which reduces or eliminates the nutrition corals receive from their algal symbionts, often resulting in widespread mortality. In contrast to extensive knowledge on the thermal tolerance of coral-associated symbionts, the role of the coral host in bleaching patterns across species is poorly understood. Here, we applied a Bayesian analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data to determine the trophic niche overlap between corals and their symbionts and propose benchmark values that define autotrophy, heterotrophy, and mixotrophy. The amount of overlap between coral and symbiont niche was negatively correlated with polyp size and bleaching resistance. Our results indicated that as oceans warm, autotrophic corals lose their competitive advantage and thus are the first to disappear from coral reefs.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7148090PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5443DOI Listing

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