Settling in aggregation: Spatial planning consideration for brooding coral transplants

Aggregated larval co-settlement has been documented in myriad marine invertebrate taxa, shaping adult population structures. Still, kinship settlement patterns in brooding corals have not been studied in detail, especially under scenarios of enhanced larval assemblies. Employing two sets of ex-situ experiments, planulae staining for kinship resolution and a computer random settlement simulation, we show that larval settlement of the coral Stylophora pistillata, a brooding species in the Gulf of Aqaba/Eilat, is mostly affected by the number of larval donors, and that larvae tend to aggregate (up to 50% tissue-contacts; distances <3 mm), compared to 3% predicted in a computer simulation, all without a kinship-bias. Field surveys on juvenile colonies revealed a similar clustering pattern. Although aggregated settlement inevitably carries disadvantages such as intraspecific competition, it may be bracketed in adult colonies with benefits such as enhanced fertilization and chimerismrelated ecological advantages, including augmented colony size and survivorship. These improved life-history traits of brooding coral species that aggregate could be harnessed as applied ecological engineering tools in reef restoration acts.

Automated summary

This study investigates the settlement patterns of the brooding coral Stylophora pistillata, showing that larval settlement is mainly influenced by the number of larval donors and tends to aggregate. Aggregated settlement carries disadvantages but can also have benefits such as enhanced fertilization and ecological advantages.