Variance of coral anti-pathogen defense in response to transplantation between coral- and macroalgal-dominated reefs

Beatty, DS and Clements, CS and Valayil, JM and Jarvis, SY and Ritchie, KB and Stewart, FJ and Hay, ME (2022) Variance of coral anti-pathogen defense in response to transplantation between coral- and macroalgal-dominated reefs. In: Coral Reefs .

PDF cor_ree_2022.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (1MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Coral reefs are undergoing precipitous decline due to coral bleaching and disease following warming events, with impacted reefs often shifting from coral to macroalgal dominance. We reciprocally transplanted three common coral species between two pairs of coral-dominated marine-protected areas (MPAs) and adjacent macroalgal-dominated fished areas to test for the effects of reef origin and transplant area on coral defense against the common coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus. For the ecologically sensitive species Acropora millepora, both reef origin and transplant area influenced the potency of defense, but for the ecologically hardy coral Porites cylindrica or the weedy coral Pocillopora damicornis, potency was not altered. A. millepora colonies that originated from, or were transplanted into, coral-dominated MPAs exhibited a 46 and 38 increase, respectively, in inhibition of V. coralliilyticus relative to those that originated from, or were transplanted into, macroalgal-dominated fished areas. A. millepora also exhibited reef origin effects on its microbial community composition, notably with persistently higher relative abundances of Vibrionaceae among individuals that originated from macroalgal-dominated fished areas compared to individuals that originated from coral-dominated MPAs. For ecologically important but disease and bleaching susceptible species like acroporids, macroalgal-dominated reefs may suppress coral defense against Vibrio pathogens and facilitate blooms of Vibrio bacteria that may harm corals during periods of thermal stress. However, their defense against Vibrio coralliilyticus recovered when not subjected to degraded reefs dominated by macroalgae.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Coral Reefs
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to the Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH.
Keywords:	Anti-pathogen defense; Coral; Microbiome; Protected areas; Vibrio coralliilyticus
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Biochemistry
Date Deposited:	10 Aug 2022 06:24
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2022 06:24
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/75798

Actions (login required)

View Item