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Early uptake of specific symbionts enhances the post-settlement survival of Acropora corals
- Source :
- Marine Ecology Progress Series. 494:149-158
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Inter-Research Science Center, 2013.
-
Abstract
- For corals that establish symbioses with dinoflagellate Symbiodinium spp. at the lar- val stage or later through horizontal transmission, the ecological significance of the early uptake of algal symbionts remains unknown. It has been hypothesized that early uptake of symbionts is an advantage for long-distance dispersal. Here, we tested the hypothesis that early acquisition of symbionts enhances post-settlement survival. We used a cultured strain of clade A Symbiodinium that was isolated from wild Acropora spat as the algal symbiont. Symbiotic and aposymbiotic Acropora larvae were prepared in the laboratory and settled on experimental plates in the field. The survival of settlers was monitored for 15 mo. Our results showed that more larval-stage set- tlers harbouring symbionts survived than those without, even when there was no difference in the initial density of settled larvae. We analysed the Symbiodinium clades harboured by the corals at 1 mo after settlement, and found that clade A was less abundant in the corals that grew from aposymbiotic larvae than in those that developed from symbiotic larvae. There was also a marked difference in coral survival between aposymbiotic and symbiotic larvae over this period. The higher survival rate of 'early uptake' corals was more pronounced on shaded plates. These results suggest that the early uptake of specific symbionts enhances post-settlement survival in dark places such as reef crevices, which are sites commonly settled by coral larvae.
- Subjects :
- Larva
animal structures
Ecology
biology
Coral
fungi
technology, industry, and agriculture
Dinoflagellate
social sciences
biochemical phenomena, metabolism, and nutrition
Aquatic Science
biology.organism_classification
Aposymbiotic
Symbiodinium
Symbiosis
Botany
Biological dispersal
Acropora
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 16161599 and 01718630
- Volume :
- 494
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Marine Ecology Progress Series
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........2e3c5b83a0d050f04d32af6875d0794a