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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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5443 | DOI Listing |
Sci Adv
January 2025
Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Certain coral individuals exhibit enhanced resistance to thermal bleaching, yet the specific microbial assemblages and their roles in these phenotypes remain unclear. We compared the microbial communities of thermal bleaching-resistant (TBR) and thermal bleaching-sensitive (TBS) corals using metabarcoding and metagenomics. Our multidomain approach revealed stable distinct microbial compositions between thermal phenotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Coral Reef Research Center of China, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China. Electronic address:
Coral reefs are degrading at an accelerating rate owing to climate change. Understanding the heat stress tolerance of corals is vital for their sustainability. However, this tolerance varies substantially geographically, and information regarding coral responses across latitudes is lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Oral Health
January 2025
Department of Fixed Prosthodontics - Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University, Organization of African Unity, St, El-Qobba Bridge, El Weili, Cairo Governorate, Egypt.
Background: Home bleaching is a promising option for addressing discolored teeth conservatively. However, its impact on the physical and mechanical properties of indirect restorations remains unknown. This study provides comparative insights into the material responses to aesthetic treatments by assessing the effects of home bleaching agents on two hybrid ceramics: VITA ENAMIC and Grandio Blocs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America.
Identifying processes that promote coral reef recovery and resilience is crucial as ocean warming becomes more frequent and severe. Sexual reproduction is essential for the replenishment of coral populations and maintenance of genetic diversity; however, the ability for corals to reproduce may be impaired by marine heatwaves that cause coral bleaching. In 2014 and 2015, the Hawaiian Islands experienced coral bleaching with differential bleaching susceptibility in the species Montipora capitata, a dominant reef-building coral in the region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeerJ
January 2025
Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Marine heatwaves are starting to occur several times a decade, yet we do not understand the effect this has on corals across biological scales. This study combines tissue-, organism-, and community-level analyses to investigate the effects of a marine heatwave on reef-building corals. Adjacent conspecific pairs of coral colonies of and that showed contrasting phenotypic responses (, bleached .
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