Authors
Ulisse Cardini, Nanne van Hoytema, Vanessa N Bednarz, Laura Rix, Rachel A Foster, Mamoon MD Al‐Rshaidat, Christian Wild
Publication date
2016/9
Journal
Environmental Microbiology
Volume
18
Issue
8
Pages
2620-2633
Description
Coral holobionts (i.e., coral‐algal‐prokaryote symbioses) exhibit dissimilar thermal sensitivities that may determine which coral species will adapt to global warming. Nonetheless, studies simultaneously investigating the effects of warming on all holobiont members are lacking. Here we show that exposure to increased temperature affects key physiological traits of all members (herein: animal host, zooxanthellae and diazotrophs) of both Stylophora pistillata and Acropora hemprichii during and after thermal stress. S. pistillata experienced severe loss of zooxanthellae (i.e., bleaching) with no net photosynthesis at the end of the experiment. Conversely, A. hemprichii was more resilient to thermal stress. Exposure to increased temperature (+ 6°C) resulted in a drastic increase in daylight dinitrogen (N2) fixation, particularly in A. hemprichii (threefold compared with controls). After the temperature was reduced again to in …
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