Differential thermal tolerance between algae and corals may trigger the proliferation of algae in coral reefs.
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ArticleAuthors
Anton Gamazo, Andrea
Randle, Janna L
Garcia, Francisca C
Rossbach, Susann
Ellis, Joanne I
Weinzierl, Michael

Duarte, Carlos M.

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science
Marine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2020-05-31Online Publication Date
2020-05-31Print Publication Date
2020-08Embargo End Date
2021-05-05Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/662766
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Marine heatwaves can lead to rapid changes in entire communities, including in the case of shallow coral reefs the potential overgrowth of algae. Here we tested experimentally the differential thermal tolerance between algae and coral species from the Red Sea through the measurement of thermal performance curves and the assessment of thermal limits. Differences across functional groups (algae vs corals) were apparent for two key thermal performance metrics. First, two reef-associated algae species (Halimeda tuna and Turbinaria ornata,) had higher lethal thermal limits than two coral species (Pocillopora verrucosa and Stylophora pistillata) conferring those species of algae with a clear advantage during heatwaves by surpassing the thermal threshold of coral survival. Second, the coral species had generally greater deactivation energies for net and gross primary production rates compared to the algae species, indicating greater thermal sensitivity in corals once the optimum temperature is exceeded. Our field surveys in the Red Sea reefs before and after the marine heatwave of 2015 show a change in benthic cover mainly in the southern reefs, where there was a decrease in coral cover and a concomitant increase in algae abundance, mainly turf algae. Our laboratory and field observations indicate that a proliferation of algae might be expected on Red Sea coral reefs with future ocean warming.Citation
Anton, A., Randle, J. L., Garcia, F. C., Rossbach, S., Ellis, J. I., Weinzierl, M., & Duarte, C. M. (2020). Differential thermal tolerance between algae and corals may trigger the proliferation of algae in coral reefs. Global Change Biology. doi:10.1111/gcb.15141Sponsors
This research was funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) through baseline funding and center associated research and competitive funding allocated to CMD. We thank Paul Muller, Zenon Batang, Katherine Rowe, CMOR, Cecilia Martin and Lauren Shea for logistical support in the laboratory, Nathan Geraldi for providing useful feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript, Lucas Geraldi-Anton for the illustrations in the graphical abstract and Allende Bodega Martinez for the species illustrations in Fig. 1.Publisher
WileyJournal
Global change biologyPubMed ID
32364636Additional Links
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.15141ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/gcb.15141
Scopus Count
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