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Early development of the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis

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Abstract

Acropora cervicornis underwent massive mortalities in the Caribbean Sea and its populations have failed to recover after several decades. This study aimed to document the early life history of A. cervicornis from embryogenesis to symbiotic dinoflagellates acquisition. Gametes were collected in Islas del Rosario (Colombia) and a cross-fertilization was performed ex situ. A settlement experiment was performed including two treatments: smooth surfaces and rugose surfaces. Embryogenesis lasted for 63 h and larvae began to settle 8 days after fertilization. There were no significant differences in settlement between rugose (32% ± 16.59) and smooth (21% ± 11.45) surfaces. Survival on rugose surfaces was significantly lower (29% ± 11.71) compared to smooth surfaces (47% ± 35.02), due to the negative effect of sediment accumulation and turf algae. Seventeen days after fertilization 54% ± 4.13 of polyps acquired symbiotic dinoflagellates. This study contributes to the knowledge of early development of A. cervicornis in laboratory conditions, which complements restoration methods based on asexual reproduction.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the figshare repository, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.18662120.v2.

Material availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the figshare repository, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.18662120.v2.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Diego Duque, Camilo Varcalcel (Parque Nacional Natural los Corales del Rosario y San Bernardo - PNNCRSB), Juan Zarate, Adrián Devia, Jaime Rojas, Rafael Vieira (Centro de Investigación Educación y Recreación - CEINER), David Hudson, Christie Barrett (The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk), Gladys Pacheco (Universidad del Magdalena) and Israel Caicedo (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) for helping us with the field and laboratory work. We thank Tessa M. Page and Bonnie Lewis for providing insightful comments and edits to this manuscript. Additionally, we thank the reviewer Dr. Kristen Marhaver for providing valuable feedback to improve the manuscript. The PNNCRSB provided the permit to conduct this research (M 20196660015833).

Funding

This study was funded by Fonciencias - Universidad del Magdalena.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación EDAMAC, Universidad del Magdalena, Carrera 32 No. 22 - 08, Santa Marta, Colombia

    Dayana Rada-Osorio, Luis A. Gómez-Lemos & Rocío García-Urueña

  2. Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Sede de La Paz - Escuela de Pregrados, La Paz, Colombia

    Luis A. Gómez-Lemos

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  1. Dayana Rada-Osorio
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  2. Luis A. Gómez-Lemos
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  3. Rocío García-Urueña
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Dayana Rada-Osorio, Luis A. Gómez-Lemos and Rocío García-Urueña. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dayana Rada-Osorio and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luis A. Gómez-Lemos.

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Rada-Osorio, D., Gómez-Lemos, L.A. & García-Urueña, R. Early development of the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis. Hydrobiologia 849, 2477–2486 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04838-4

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