Journal
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
Volume 86, Issue -, Pages 1-11Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2013.01.004
Keywords
Acclimation; Coral reefs; Endosymbiosis; Global change; Invertebrate physiology; Mesocosm; Molecular biology; mRNA; Symbiodinium; Temperature
Funding
- international research fellowship from the United States National Science Foundation [OISE-0852960]
- National Science Council of Taiwan [100-2611-M-291-001, 101-2611-M-291-001, NSC 100-2611-M-259-001]
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Given the threat of climate change towards scleractinian corals, there is an urgent need to understand their physiological mechanisms of acclimation to increasing temperatures. To gain insight into this process, two mesocosm-based experiments were conducted in Southern Taiwan with the model reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis. In the first study, temperature was gradually elevated to 32 degrees C, though reduced to ambient levels at night, in order to simulate a temperature profile that can characterize intertidal reefs of Southern Taiwan. All corals acclimated to such conditions over the course of the month-long experiment, as evidenced by a variety of physiological and sub-cellular responses. In the second experiment, corals were exposed continually to 31.5 degrees C for two weeks, and, in contrast to results from the first study, the majority of the corals died, revealing that prolonged exposure to this temperature is lethal for this dominant reef builder of many regions of the Pacific Ocean. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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