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Physiological performance of the cold-water coral Dendrophyllia cornigera reveals its preference for temperate environments

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Abstract

Cold-water corals (CWCs) are key ecosystem engineers in deep-sea benthic communities around the world. Their distribution patterns are related to several abiotic and biotic factors, of which seawater temperature is arguably one of the most important due to its role in coral physiological processes. The CWC Dendrophyllia cornigera has the particular ability to thrive in several locations in which temperatures range from 11 to 17 °C, but to be apparently absent from most CWC reefs at temperatures constantly below 11 °C. This study thus aimed to assess the thermal tolerance of this CWC species, collected in the Mediterranean Sea at 12 °C, and grown at the three relevant temperatures of 8, 12, and 16 °C. This species displayed thermal tolerance to the large range of seawater temperatures investigated, but growth, calcification, respiration, and total organic carbon (TOC) fluxes severely decreased at 8 °C compared to the in situ temperature of 12 °C. Conversely, no significant differences in calcification, respiration, and TOC fluxes were observed between corals maintained at 12 and 16 °C, suggesting that the fitness of this CWC is higher in temperate rather than cold environments. The capacity to maintain physiological functions between 12 and 16 °C allows D. cornigera to be the most abundant CWC species in deep-sea ecosystems where temperatures are too warm for other CWC species (e.g., Canary Islands). This study also shows that not all CWC species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea (at deep-water temperatures of 12–14 °C) are currently living at their upper thermal tolerance limit.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to the crew and scientists on board the RV ‘García del Cid’, as well as to the JAGO team, J. Schauer and K. Hissmann (IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany) for their help during the coral collection. We are grateful to A. Olariaga, C. Domínguez-Carrió, J. Grinyó, and S. Ambroso for helping with the coral care in Barcelona, to the personnel from the Musée Océanographique de Monaco for helping with the coral care in Monaco, to P.J. López-González for the picture in Fig. 1, A. Braga-Henriques, A. Brito and M. Bo for information about D. cornigera occurrence and seawater temperature, to S. Sikorski and C. Rottier for laboratory assistance, to A. Venn and S. Hennige for revision of the English, and to D. Allemand for discussions. This work was supported by the Government of the Principality of Monaco, and by the European Project LIFE + INDEMARES ‘Inventario y designación de la red natura 2000 en áreas marinas del estado español’ (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732), and HERMIONE (Grant Agreement Number 226354).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), 8 Quai Antoine Ier, 98000, Monaco, Principality of Monaco

    Andrea Gori, Stephanie Reynaud & Christine Ferrier-Pagès

  2. Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Moll de Ponent s/n, 07015, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Covadonga Orejas

  3. Institut de Ciències del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Pg. Maritim de la Barceloneta 37–49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Josep-Maria Gili

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  1. Andrea Gori
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  5. Christine Ferrier-Pagès
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Correspondence to Andrea Gori.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Anastazia Banaszak

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Gori, A., Reynaud, S., Orejas, C. et al. Physiological performance of the cold-water coral Dendrophyllia cornigera reveals its preference for temperate environments. Coral Reefs 33, 665–674 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1167-9

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