Interactions among wildtype and heat-evolved photosymbionts shape performance of coral recruits

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change has driven many coral reef ecosystems to the brink of collapse as extreme temperature events cause widespread bleaching and mortality. Interventions that boost coral resilience are being developed to help restore reefs, and one such intervention is the manipulation of a coral’s symbiotic algae (which greatly affects their host’s physiology). New experimentally evolved symbiont strains have shown promise in increasing their host’s thermal tolerance, but how they will perform in juvenile corals when other strains are present is unclear. This study investigates the uptake and establishment of experimentally evolved Cladocopium proliferum and Durusdinium trenchii in ..