Journal article
Coral thermal tolerance shaped by local adaptation of photosymbionts
EJ Howells, VH Beltran, NW Larsen, LK Bay, BL Willis, MJH Van Oppen
Nature Climate Change | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2012
DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1330
Abstract
Coral thermal tolerance is strongly influenced by the identity of obligate photosymbionts, which encompass numerous types belonging to the dinoflagellate genus Symbiodinium. Physiological advantages achieved by partnering with functionally diverse symbionts have been assumed to be available only to corals that can form associations with multiple Symbiodinium types. Functional variation among populations of the same type of Symbiodinium has been overlooked, despite local adaptation being feasible because of large population sizes, genetic isolation and short asexual generation times. Here we demonstrate divergent thermal tolerance in a generalist Symbiodinium type from two different thermal e..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The Centre for Marine Microbiology and Genetics at the Australian Institute of Marine Science provided aquarium facilities and NI. Salmon, I. Hochen, R. Berkelmans, D. Bourne and E. Puill-Stephan assisted with set-up or materials. R. Berkelmans and L. Took provided information on the distribution of Symbiodinium types on the Great Barrier Reef. J. White, I. Tan, S. Gardner, P. Warner, M. Condy, A. Moya and A. Baird assisted with fieldwork. I. Doyle, A. Negri, V. Cumbo and S. Uthicke provided technical advice on pigment analysis, coral larval rearing, Symbiodinium inoculation and chlorophyll fluorescence. The study was funded by an Australian Research Council grant to B.L.W. and M.J.H.v.O., an AIMS@JCU grant to E.J.H., and a Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility grant to B.L.W., M.J.H.v.O. and L.K.B.