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Reproduction of the azooxanthellate coral Caryophyllia inornata is not affected by temperature along an 850 km gradient on the Western Italian coast
- Source :
- Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 6 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- open 7 si The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that ocean surface temperature will rise of 0.6–2.0◦C by 2100. Ocean warming is expected to produce strong impacts on marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, affecting their physiological events including reproductive processes. To date, relatively few studies have examined the effects of climate change on the reproductive success of temperate corals and even less in the azooxanthellate ones. This study examined the reproductive output of the azooxanthellate Mediterranean coral Caryophyllia inornata along a wide latitudinal gradient of seawater temperature and solar radiation. A total of 260 samples, collected from five populations along the Western Italian coast, have been analyzed through histological techniques. The intriguing aspects characterizing all populations of C. inornata along the latitudinal gradient are a strong male-biased sex ratio and the presence of embryos in all stages of development throughout the year in females, males, and sexually inactive individuals. This peculiarity could suggest a mixed strategy of sexual and asexual reproduction in this species as has been observed for some anemones of the genus Actinia. Fecundity and spermary abundance (i.e., the number of reproductive elements per body volume unit), gonadal index (i.e., the percentage of body volume occupied by the germ cells) and fertility (i.e., the number of embryos per body volume unit) in females, males and sexually inactive individuals were unrelated to solar radiation and temperature along the latitudinal gradient. These results suggest that the reproduction in C. inornata is not affected by increasing solar radiation and temperature. The lack of zooxanthellae could make this species less dependent on these environmental parameters, as previously hypothesized for another azooxanthellate species, Leptopsammia pruvoti, investigated along the same gradient. open Marchini C., Tortorelli G., Guidi E., Airi V., Falini G., Dubinsky Z., Goffredo S. Marchini C., Tortorelli G., Guidi E., Airi V., Falini G., Dubinsky Z., Goffredo S.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
lcsh:QH1-199.5
Coral
Scleractinia
Zoology
Ocean Engineering
Aquatic Science
lcsh:General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution
Oceanography
global warming
01 natural sciences
gametogenesis
Mediterranean Sea
lcsh:Science
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Water Science and Technology
Global and Planetary Change
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
biology
Reproductive success
asexual reproduction
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Coral reef
biology.organism_classification
Mediterranean Sea, global warming, scleractinia, gametogenesis, embryogenesis, asexual reproduction
Zooxanthellae
Leptopsammia pruvoti
embryogenesis
lcsh:Q
scleractinia
Sex ratio
Actinia
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 6 (2020)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1b1a69b1d50775fbec41e4db67ceaf97