Cold tolerance of subtropical Porites lutea from the northern South China Sea

Marginal scleractinian corals growing at their latitudinal limits should be quite sensitive to variations in winter sea surface temperatures(SSTs). An extreme cold event occurring in early 2008 offered a unique opportunity to examine the effect of cold-water anomalies on Porites lutea corals and their physiological tolerance and acclimation in the subtropical northern South China Sea(NSCS). Besides in-situ observation, a subsequent aquarium-based experiment was designed for reproducing the chilling process and a 50-year-long Sr/Ca ratio profile from two P. lutea skeletal slabs was analyzed for reconstructed the historical annual minimum SSTs which ceased Porites calcification. The 2008 low-temperature anomaly caused the minimum daily mean SSTs dropped below 13°C in the Daya Bay. The stress symptoms displayed by local P. lutea colonies included polyp retraction, reduced coloration and pale, but none showed tissue sloughing. The ability of P. lutea to survive implied its tolerance of extreme low temperatures. Here we suggest a model on the tolerance of high-latitude Porites under low-temperature stresses, which is when SSTs drop below 18°C, Porites corals contract their tentacles(losing heterotrophic capability), then cease calcification(reducing energy consumption), and meanwhile maintain relatively high levels of zooxanthellae density(sustaining host’s life via photosynthetic capacity of symbiotic zooxanthellae). This study revealed remarkable acclimatization of P. lutea corals to low temperature extremes. This acclimatization is beneficial for Porites corals in the NSCS to expand their living ranges towards the higher-latitude areas and have the potential to be the incipient reef former.

Next-generation sequencing revealed specific microbial symbionts in Porites lutea with pigment abnormalities in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Bacterial diseases affecting corals pose an enormous threat to the health of coral reefs. The relationship between certain bacterial species and coral diseases remain largely unknown. Pigment abnormalities are common in Porites lutea. Here we used Illumina 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the bacterial communities associated with healthy P. lutea and P. lutea with pigment abnormalities. We observed an increase of alpha diversity of the bacterial community of P. lutea with pigment abnormalities, relative to healthy corals. We then identified changes in the abundance of individual operational taxonomic units(OTUs) between pigmented and healthy corals. We were able to identify eight OTUs associated with pigment abnormalities, which are possibly the causative agents of pigment abnormalities.