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1,478 results for “coral reefs”
Data from: Simultaneous synergist, antagonistic, and additive interactions between multiple local stressors all degrade algal turf communities on coral reefs
1.Ecological communities are subjected to multiple anthropogenic stressors at both global and local scales that are increasing in number and magnitude. Stressors can interact in complex ways, and are classified as additive, synergistic, or antagonistic; the nature of the interaction is key to predicting changes and understanding community resilience. Coral reefs are among the most impacted communities and have shifted from coral- to algal-dominated states, and overfishing, nutrient enrichment, and sedimentation are local stressors that often co-occur and may support degraded algal states. Short algal turfs are abundant benthic space-holders on healthy reefs that may be pushed by local stressors to long algal turfs, a more degraded state that may prevent recovery to coral dominance. 2. We conducted a fully crossed 3-factor field experiment on short algal turf communities manipulating herbivory pressure (+/-cages), nutrients (+/-fertilizer), and sediments (natural accumulation/removal). We applied stressors for 16 days, removed them, and monitored turf height during and after manipulations. 3.We found significant pair-wise interactions between all stressors pushed the community toward a degraded state with longer algal turfs. All three types of interactions (additive, synergistic, and antagonistic) were common and occurred in equal frequency, suggesting more investigations into all types are needed to accurately predict community responses to multiple stressors. For example, when herbivores were present nutrients and sediments interacted additively while in the absence of herbivores, nutrients and sediments interacted synergistically. All interactions broke down following termination of experimental manipulations and all effects were undetectable after 49 days, indicating this reef may be resilient, at least when stressors are applied on a short time scale. 4.Synthesis. Because management of local stressors is often more tractable than global stressors, local management has been proposed as a means to offset global stressors. However, ecological communities often experience multiple local stressors simultaneously, and interactions between stressors, including synergisms and antagonisms, may be the source of non-linear shifts in communities or 'ecological surprises'. The majority of interactions in our study were both strong and non-linear and we suggest that, if pervasive across systems, non-linear interactions may drive the recent global increase in 'ecological surprises'.
Data from: Influence of the geography of speciation on current patterns of coral reef fish biodiversity across the Indo-Pacific
The role of speciation processes in shaping current biodiversity patterns represents a major scientific question for ecologists and biogeographers. Hence, numerous methods have been developed to determine the geography of speciation based on co-occurrence between sister-species. Most of these methods rely on the correlation between divergence time and several metrics based on the geographic ranges of sister-taxa (i.e. overlap, asymmetry). The relationship between divergence time and these metrics has scarcely been examined in a spatial context beyond regression curves. Mapping this relationship across spatial grids, however, may unravel how speciation processes have shaped current biodiversity patterns through space and time. This can be particularly relevant for coral reef fishes of the Indo-Pacific since the origin of the exceptional concentration of biodiversity in the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA) has been actively debated, with several alternative hypotheses involving species diversification and dispersal. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships between three species-rich families of coral reef fish (Chaetodontidae, Labridae, Pomacentridae) and calculated co-occurrence metrics between closely related lineages of those families. We demonstrated that repeated biogeographic processes can be identified in present-day species distribution by projecting co-occurrence metrics between related lineages in a geographical context. Our study also evidence that sister-species do not co-occur randomly across the Indo-Pacific, but tend to overlap their range within the IAA. We identified the imprint of two important biogeographic processes that caused this pattern in 48% of the sister-taxa considered: speciation events within the IAA and repeated divergence between the Indian and Pacific Ocean, with subsequent secondary contact in the IAA.
Data from: On the spatial scale of dispersal in coral reef fishes
Marine biologists have gone through a paradigm shift, from the assumption that marine populations are largely 'open' due to extensive larval dispersal to the realization that marine dispersal is 'more restricted than previously thought'. Yet, population genetic studies often reveal low levels of genetic structure across large geographic areas. On the other side, more direct approaches such as mark-recapture provide evidence of localized dispersal. To what extent can direct and indirect studies of marine dispersal be reconciled? One approach consists in applying genetic methods that have been validated with direct estimates of dispersal. Here, we use such an approach - genetic isolation-by-distance between individuals in continuous populations - to estimate the spatial scale of dispersal in five species of coral reef fish presenting low levels of genetic structure across the Caribbean. Individuals were sampled continuously along a 220 km transect following the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, population densities were estimated from surveys covering 17 200 m2 of reef, and samples were genotyped at a total of 58 microsatellite loci. A small but positive isolation-by-distance slope was observed in the five species, providing mean parent-offspring dispersal estimates ranging between 7 and 42 km (CI 1-113 km), and suggesting that there might be a correlation between minimum/maximum PLD and dispersal in coral reef fishes. Coalescent-based simulations indicate that these results are robust to a variety of dispersal distributions and sampling designs. We conclude that low levels of genetic structure across large geographic areas are not necessarily indicative of extensive dispersal at ecological timescales.
Data from: Multi-locus sequence data reveal a new species of coral reef goby (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Eviota), and evidence of Pliocene vicariance across the Coral Triangle
Here, multi-locus sequence data are coupled with observations of live colouration to recognize a new species, Eviota punyit from the Coral Triangle, Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Relaxed molecular clock divergence time estimation indicates a Pliocene origin for the new species, and the current distribution of the new species and its sister species Eviota sebreei supports a scenario of vicariance across the Indo-Pacific Barrier, followed by subsequent range expansion and overlap in the Coral Triangle. These results are consistent with the 'centre of overlap' hypothesis, which states that the increased diversity in the Coral Triangle is due in part to the overlapping ranges of Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean faunas. These findings are discussed in the context of other geminate pairs of coral reef fishes separated by the Indo-Pacific Barrier.
Data from: Seascapes as drivers of herbivore assemblages in coral reef ecosystems
Herbivorous fish maintain a critical ecosystem function on coral reefs by grazing algae and maintaining highly productive algal turf assemblages. Current paradigms implicate habitat complexity, predation and primary productivity as major drivers of the distribution and abundance of herbivorous fish, yet little is known about the relative contribution of these factors. Here, we compare bottom-up and top-down drivers of notional herbivore assemblages across an environmental gradient of wave exposure in the Palau archipelago. We surveyed herbivore assemblages at reef slopes (6 - 9m) across 18 sites, and quantified proxies of top-down control (predator biomass, habitat complexity) and bottom-up drivers (net primary production, nutrients) at each site. Despite substantial variability in herbivore biomass throughout the archipelago (6 to 65 g m-2), general additive models indicate that neither top-down nor bottom-up drivers significantly predicted biomass or density of herbivores among sites. In contrast to expectations, herbivore biomass was highest at sites with high predator biomass, low structural complexity and low benthic productivity. Rather, the highest biomass of herbivores was associated with shallow, tidally emergent, productive reef flats located adjacent to steep vertical walls ('drop-offs'). The emergent nature of this neighbouring habitat precluded occupation by territorial fishes, and multiple species of herbivores were observed to make foraging runs into this habitat once tidally inundated. We hypothesize that this habitat configuration provides an important cross-habitat resource subsidy. Multivariate ordination and permutation of herbivore communities revealed strong evidence for biogeographic partitioning throughout the archipelago (western, south-western, inner eastern and outer eastern clusters), contributing to an emerging picture that the habitat heterogeneity of seascapes can overwhelm the effects of conventional top-down and bottom-up structuring of herbivory on coral reefs.
Data from: Recovery from bleaching is mediated by threshold densities of background thermo-tolerant symbiont types in a reef-building coral
Sensitive molecular analyses show that most corals host a complement of Symbiodinium genotypes that includes thermo-tolerant types in low abundance. While tolerant symbiont types are hypothesized to facilitate tolerance to temperature and recovery from bleaching, empirical data on their distribution and relative abundance in corals under ambient and stress conditions are still rare. We quantified visual bleaching and mortality of coral hosts, along with relative abundance of C- and D-type Symbiodinium cells in 82 Acropora millepora colonies from three locations on the Great Barrier Reef transplanted to a central inshore site over a 13 month period. Our analyses reveal dynamic change in symbiont associations within colonies and among populations over time. Coral bleaching and declines in C- but not D-type symbionts were observed in transplanted corals. Survival and recovery of 25% of corals from one population was associated with either initial D-dominance or an increase in D-type symbionts that could be predicted by a minimum pre-stress D : C ratio of 0.003. One-third of corals from this population became D dominated at the bleached stage despite no initial detection of this symbiont type, but failed to recover and died in mid to late summer. These results provide a predictive threshold minimum density of background D-type symbionts in A. millepora, above which survival following extreme thermal stress is increased.
Data from: New insights into the dynamics between reef corals and their associated dinoflagellate endosymbionts from population genetic studies.
The mutualistic symbioses between reef-building corals and micro-algae form the basis of coral reef ecosystems, yet recent environmental changes threaten their survival. Diversity in host-symbiont pairings on the sub-species level could be an unrecognized source of functional variation in response to stress. The Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, associates predominantly with one symbiont species (Symbiodinium 'fitti'), facilitating investigations of individual-level (genotype) interactions. Individual genotypes of both host and symbiont were resolved across the entire range of the species. Most colonies of a particular animal genotype were dominated by one symbiont genotype (or strain) that may persist in the host for decades or more. While Symbiodinium are primarily clonal, the occurrence of recombinant genotypes indicates sexual recombination is the source of this genetic variation, and some evidence suggests this happens within the host. When these data are examined at spatial scales spanning the entire distribution of A. palmata, gene flow among animal populations was an order of magnitude greater than among populations of the symbiont. This suggests that independent micro-evolutionary processes created dissimilar population genetic structures between host and symbiont. The lower effective dispersal exhibited by the dinoflagellate raises questions regarding the extent to which populations of host and symbiont can co-evolve during times of rapid and substantial climate change. However, these findings also support a growing body of evidence suggesting that genotype by genotype interactions may provide significant physiological variation; influencing the adaptive potential of symbiotic reef corals to severe selection.
Data from: Limited scope for latitudinal extension of reef corals
An analysis of present-day global depth distributions of reef-building corals and underlying environmental drivers contradicts a commonly held belief that ocean warming will promote tropical coral expansion into temperate latitudes. Using a global data set of a major group of reef corals, we found that corals were confined to shallower depths at higher latitudes (up to 0.6 meters of predicted shallowing per additional degree of latitude). Latitudinal attenuation of the most important driver of this phenomenon—the dose of photosynthetically available radiation over winter—would severely constrain latitudinal coral range extension in response to ocean warming. Latitudinal gradients in species richness for the group also suggest that higher winter irradiance at depth in low latitudes allowed a deep-water fauna that was not viable at higher latitudes.
Data from: Increased behavioural lateralization in parasitized coral reef fish
Preferential use of one side of the body for cognitive or behavioural tasks (lateralization) is common in many animals, including humans. However, few studies have demonstrated whether lateralization is phenotypically plastic, and varies depending on the ecological context. We studied lateralization (measured as a turning preference) in the bridled monocle bream (Scolopsis bilineatus). This coral reef fish is commonly infected by a large, ectoparasitic isopod (Anilocra nemipteri) that attaches to the left or right side of its host's head. Fish that were parasitized showed no turning bias with respect to the side on which the parasite had attached. On average, however, parasitised fish were significantly more lateralized (i.e. had a strong side bias) than unparasitized fish. The extent of lateralization declined significantly when we experimentally removed the parasite. Our results indicate that lateralization can vary with the ecological context. One possible explanation is that lateralization shortens the response time until fish flee after encountering a predator. A stronger side bias might be advantageous for parasitized individuals to overcome their recently documented lower maximum swimming speed.
Data from: Evidence for a host role in thermotolerance divergence between populations of the mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides) from different reef environments
Studying the mechanisms that enable coral populations to inhabit spatially varying thermal environments can help evaluate how they will respond in time to the effects of global climate change and elucidate the evolutionary forces that enable or constrain adaptation. Inshore reefs in the Florida Keys experience higher temperatures than offshore reefs for prolonged periods during the summer. We conducted a common garden experiment with heat stress as our selective agent to test for local thermal adaptation in corals from inshore and offshore reefs. We show that inshore corals are more tolerant of a 6-week temperature stress than offshore corals. Compared with inshore corals, offshore corals in the 31 °C treatment showed significantly elevated bleaching levels concomitant with a tendency towards reduced growth. In addition, dinoflagellate symbionts (Symbiodinium sp.) of offshore corals exhibited reduced photosynthetic efficiency. We did not detect differences in the frequencies of major (>5%) haplotypes comprising Symbiodinium communities hosted by inshore and offshore corals, nor did we observe frequency shifts ('shuffling') in response to thermal stress. Instead, coral host populations showed significant genetic divergence between inshore and offshore reefs, suggesting that in Porites astreoides, the coral host might play a prominent role in holobiont thermotolerance. Our results demonstrate that coral populations inhabiting reefs <10-km apart can exhibit substantial differences in their physiological response to thermal stress, which could impact their population dynamics under climate change.
Data from: Coral reefs as drivers of cladogenesis: expanding coral reefs, cryptic extinction events, and the development of biodiversity hotspots
Diversification rates within four conspicuous coral reef fish families (Labridae, Chaetodontidae, Pomacentridae, Apogonidae) were estimated using Bayesian inference. Lineage through time plots revealed a possible late Eocene/early Oligocene cryptic extinction event coinciding with the collapse of the ancestral Tethyan/Arabian hotspot. Rates of diversification analysis revealed elevated cladogenesis in all families in the Oligocene/Miocene. Throughout the Miocene, lineages with a high percentage of coral reef associated taxa display significantly higher net diversification rates than expected. The development of a complex mosaic of reef habitats in the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA) during the Oligocene/Miocene appears to have been a significant driver of cladogenesis. Patterns of diversification suggest that coral reefs acted as a refuge from high extinction, as reef taxa are able to sustain diversification at high extinction rates. The IAA appears to support both cladogenesis and survival in associated lineages, laying the foundation for the Recent IAA marine biodiversity hotspot.
Data from: Genomic atolls of differentiation in coral reef fishes (Hypoplectrus spp, Serranidae)
Because the vast majority of species are well-diverged, relatively little is known about the genomic architecture of speciation during the early stages of divergence. Species within recent evolutionary radiations are often minimally diverged from a genomic perspective, and therefore provide rare opportunities to address this question. Here, we leverage the hamlet radiation (Hypoplectrus spp, brightly colored reef fishes from the tropical western Atlantic) to characterize genomic divergence during the early stages of speciation. Transect surveys and spawning observations in Belize, Honduras, and Panama confirm that sympatric barred (H. puella), black (H. nigricans) and butter (H. unicolor) hamlets are phenotypically distinct and reproductively isolated, although hybrid spawnings and individuals with intermediate phenotypes are seen on rare occasions. A survey of approximately 100,000 restriction-site associated SNPs in 126 samples from the three species across the three replicate populations reveals extremely slight genome-wide divergence among species (Fst=0.0038), indicating that ecomorphological differences and functional reproductive isolation are maintained in sympatry in a backdrop of extraordinary genomic similarity. Nonetheless, a very small proportion of SNPs (0.05% on average) are identified as Fst outliers among sympatric species. Remarkably, a single SNP is identified as an outlier in repeated populations for the same species pair. A mini-contig assembled de novo around this SNP falls into the genomic region containing the HoxCa10 and HoxCa11 genes in 10 teleost species, suggesting an important role for Hox gene evolution in this radiation. This finding, if confirmed, would provide a better understanding of the links between micro- and macroevolutionary processes.
Figure 1 in Wolves in sheep's clothing: three new cases of aggressive mimicry in Red Sea coral reef fishes
Figure 1. New records of mimicry in the Red Sea: (a) juvenile Diploprion drachi, a mimic of (b) Meiacanthus nigrolineatus; (c) juvenile Epinephelus leucogrammicus, a mimic of (d) Larabicus quadrilineatus; (e) juvenile Plectropomus marisrubri, a mimic of (f) Cheilinus quinquecinctus. (Photos: Luiz A. Rocha).
Figure 2. A in Wolves in sheep's clothing: three new cases of aggressive mimicry in Red Sea coral reef fishes
Figure 2. A juvenile Epinephelus leucogrammicus embedded in a cleaning station with Larabicus quadrilineatus. (Photo: Luiz A. Rocha).
FIGURE 4 in A new species of Caligus Müller, 1785 (Copepoda: Siphonostomatoida: Caligidae) from coral reef plankton in the Mexican Caribbean
FIGURE 4. Caligus ilhoikimi sp. nov. (adult male allotype). A, terminal segment of maxilla; B, detail of terminal part of calamus; C, first leg; D, detail of setal elements on third exopodal segment of second leg showing papillae near base of inner setae (arrowed) and outer medial spine (*); E, exopod of third leg; F, terminal part of fourth leg; G, fifth and sixth legs on posterior part of genital complex; H, caudal ramus, dorsal view. Scale bars: A, C, E, G, H = 0.1 mm; B = 0.025; D, F = 0.05 mm.
FIGURE 3 in A new species of Caligus Müller, 1785 (Copepoda: Siphonostomatoida: Caligidae) from coral reef plankton in the Mexican Caribbean
FIGURE 3. Caligus ilhoikimi sp. nov. (adult female holotype). A, third leg; B, detail of setal elements on third exopodal segment of third leg; C, fourth leg; adult male; D, habitus, dorsal view; E, antenna; F, detail of terminal antennary process; G, sternal furca, ventral view; H, post antennal process and maxillule; I, maxilliped. Scale bars: A, C, E, G–I = 0.1 mm; B = 0.05 mm; D = 0.5 mm.
FIGURE 3 in Copepods associated with scleractinian corals: a worldwide checklist and a case study of their impact on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Pocilloporidae)
FIGURE 3. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot of 75% similarity in species composition and abundance of symbiotic copepods amongst various sampling periods.
FIGURE 1 in A new species of Caligus Müller, 1785 (Copepoda: Siphonostomatoida: Caligidae) from coral reef plankton in the Mexican Caribbean
FIGURE 1. Caligus ilhoikimi sp. nov. (adult female holotype). A, habitus, dorsal view; B, antennule; C, sternal furca, ventral view; D, antenna; E, postantennary process; F, maxillule; G, maxilla; H. mouth cone and mandibles (detail). Scale bars: A = 0.5 mm; B = 0.2 mm; C–H = 0.1 mm.
FIGURE 4 in Copepods associated with scleractinian corals: a worldwide checklist and a case study of their impact on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Pocilloporidae)
FIGURE 4. Principal component analysis (PCA) of square root-transformed data from five functional categories of copepods (see text for descriptions.) defined based on behaviour (endo-/ectoparasitic or benthic) and the structure of the feeding appendages (mandibles vs. siphon) at various sampling periods. PC1 accounted for 77.2% of the variability, and PC2 accounted for 13.7%.
FIGURE 2 in Copepods associated with scleractinian corals: a worldwide checklist and a case study of their impact on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Pocilloporidae)
FIGURE 2. Relationships between copepod infection and the amount of resources (Symbiodinium densities and surface areas) provided by host corals. A–E: Mean densities of symbiotic copepods (A: Siphonostomatoida, B: Cyclopoida, C: Harpacticoida, D: all copepods) among 480 Pocillopora damicornis colonies with varying Symbiodinium densities. E–H: Relationship between mean densities of symbiotic copepods (E: Siphonostomatoida, F: Cyclopoida, G: Harpacticoida, H: all copepods) and surface areas of host corals.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.