Abstract
Global- and local-scale anthropogenic stressors have been the main drivers of coral reef decline, causing shifts in coral reef community composition and ecosystem functioning. Excess nutrient enrichment can make corals more vulnerable to ocean warming by suppressing calcification and reducing photosynthetic performance. However, in some environments, corals can exhibit higher growth rates and thermal performance in response to nutrient enrichment. In this study, we measured how chronic nutrient enrichment at low concentrations affected coral physiology, including endosymbiont and coral host response variables, and holobiont metabolic responses of Pocillopora spp. colonies in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. We experimentally enriched corals with dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate for 15 months on an oligotrophic fore reef in Mo'orea. We first characterized symbiont and coral physiological traits due to enrichment and then used thermal performance curves to quantify the relationship between metabolic rates and temperature for experimentally enriched and control coral colonies. We found that endosymbiont densities and total tissue biomass were 54% and 22% higher in nutrient-enriched corals, respectively, relative to controls. Algal endosymbiont nitrogen content cell−1 was 44% lower in enriched corals relative to the control colonies. In addition, thermal performance metrics indicated that the maximal rate of performance for gross photosynthesis was 29% higher and the rate of oxygen evolution at a reference temperature (26.8 °C) for gross photosynthesis was 33% higher in enriched colonies compared to the control colonies. These differences were not attributed to symbiont community composition between corals in different treatments, as C42, a symbiont type in the Cladocopium genus, was the dominant endosymbiont type found in all corals. Together, our results show that in an oligotrophic fore reef environment, nutrient enrichment can cause changes in coral endosymbiont physiology that increase the performance of the coral holobiont.
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20 July 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02155-1
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Mo'orea Coral Reef Long-term Ecological Research Network, the University of California, Berkeley Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station, the University of California, Santa Barbara Marine Science Institutes Analytical Lab, and California State University, Northridge, for facilities support. Special thanks to J. Rosales and K. Speare for their support and dedication in collecting data in the field, as well the numerous individuals who contributed to the establishment and maintenance of the enrichment experiment on the forereef. We thank Dr. Marie Strader for the acquisition of the experimental tank temperature data. Additionally, thanks to Dr. P. J. Edmunds and Dr. R. C. Carpenter for their guidance and support. This research was funded in part by California State University, Northridge (CSUN) to NJS, US National Science Foundation OCE#19-24281 to NJS and Emerging Frontiers 1921465 to HMP, CSUN Office of Graduate Studies, Department of Biology, Associated Students, College of Sciences and Mathematics, and Research and Graduate Studies to DMB, and the National Science Foundation 2019 Graduate Research Fellowship to DMB. Funds to conduct the enrichment study were also provided by National Science Foundation Biological Oceanography Grants # 1442306 and #1635913 to RVT and 1547952 to DEB. Material are also supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grant (OCE#16-37396), as well as a generous gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This work represents a contribution of the Mo'orea Coral Reef (MCR) LTER Site and is CSUN Marine Biology contribution #322. Research was completed under permits issued by the French Polynesian Government (De´le´gation a`la Recherche) and the Haut-commissariat de la Re´publique en Polyne´sie Francaise (DTRT) (Protocole d’Accueil 2005-2019). We acknowledge that our research was completed on the unceded land of the Mā‘ohi peoples, we honor and acknowledge the Mā‘ohi community, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations.
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Becker, D.M., Putnam, H.M., Burkepile, D.E. et al. Chronic low-level nutrient enrichment benefits coral thermal performance in a fore reef habitat. Coral Reefs 40, 1637–1655 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02138-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02138-2