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Phenotypic plasticity for skeletal growth, density and calcification of Porites lobata in response to habitat type

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Abstract

A reciprocal transplant experiment (RTE) of the reef-building coral Porites lobata between shallow (1.5 m at low tide) back reef and forereef habitats on Ofu and Olosega Islands, American Samoa, resulted in phenotypic plasticity for skeletal characteristics. Transplants from each source population (back reef and forereef) had higher skeletal growth rates, lower bulk densities, and higher calcification rates on the back reef than on the forereef. Mean annual skeletal extension rates, mean bulk densities, and mean annual calcification rates of RTE groups were 2.6–9.8 mm year−1, 1.41–1.44 g cm−3, and 0.37–1.39 g cm−2 year−1 on the back reef, and 1.2–4.2 mm year−1, 1.49–1.53 g cm−3, and 0.19–0.63 g cm−2 year−1 on the forereef, respectively. Bulk densities were especially responsive to habitat type, with densities of transplants increasing on the high energy forereef, and decreasing on the low energy back reef. Skeletal growth and calcification rates were also influenced by source population, even though zooxanthella genotype of source colonies did not vary between sites, and there was a transplant site x source population interaction for upward linear extension. Genetic differentiation may explain the source population effects, or the experiment may have been too brief for phenotypic plasticity of all skeletal characteristics to be fully expressed. Phenotypic plasticity for skeletal characteristics likely enables P. lobata colonies to assume the most suitable shape and density for a wide range of coral reef habitats.

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Acknowledgments

We thank P. Craig of the National Park of American Samoa for logistical and technical support, L. Basch of the National Park Service in Honolulu and C. Hawkins of the American Samoa Coral Reef Advisory Council for assisting with funding, the US Geological Survey’s National Resources Preservation and Global Climate Change Research Programs, the American Museum of Natural History’s Lerner-Gray Fund, the University of Hawai’i Arts and Sciences Council, and the University of Hawai’i Zoology Department’s Edmondson Fund for funding, E. Brown, D. Fenner, G. Garrison, C. Kellogg, J. Malae, M. Malae, G. Piniak, M. Schmaedick, F. Tuilagi, and J. Zamzow for field assistance, and A. Baker, Ku’ulei Rodgers, and H. Wirshing for laboratory assistance.

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  1. Hawai’i Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, US Geological Survey (USGS), Zoology Department, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    L. W. Smith, D. Barshis & C. Birkeland

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  1. L. W. Smith
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  2. D. Barshis
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  3. C. Birkeland
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Correspondence to L. W. Smith.

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Communicated by Environment Editor K. Fabricius.

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Smith, L.W., Barshis, D. & Birkeland, C. Phenotypic plasticity for skeletal growth, density and calcification of Porites lobata in response to habitat type. Coral Reefs 26, 559–567 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-007-0216-z

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