Growing coral larger and faster: micro-colony-fusion as a strategy for accelerating coral cover

PeerJ

Zac H. Forsman¹  Robert J. Toonen²  Christopher A. Page³  David Vaughan⁴ 

[1] Division of Aquatic Resources, State of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, United States;Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, HI, United States;Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, United States;Mote Marine Laboratory, Summerland Key, FL, United States;

关键词: Coral cultivation;    Colony fusion;    Colony fragmentation;    Coral restoration;    Coral growth;    Porites lobata;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.1313

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Fusion is an important life history strategy for clonal organisms to increase access to shared resources, to compete for space, and to recover from disturbance. For reef building corals, fragmentation and colony fusion are key components of resilience to disturbance. Observations of small fragments spreading tissue and fusing over artificial substrates prompted experiments aimed at further characterizing Atlantic and Pacific corals under various conditions. Small (∼1–3 cm2) fragments from the same colony spaced regularly over ceramic tiles resulted in spreading at rapid rates (e.g., tens of square centimeters per month) followed by isogenic fusion. Using this strategy, we demonstrate growth, in terms of area encrusted and covered by living tissue, of Orbicella faveolata, Pseudodiploria clivosa, and Porites lobata as high as 63, 48, and 23 cm2 per month respectively. We found a relationship between starting and ending size of fragments, with larger fragments growing at a faster rate. Porites lobata showed significant tank effects on rates of tissue spreading indicating sensitivity to biotic and abiotic factors. The tendency of small coral fragments to encrust and fuse over a variety of surfaces can be exploited for a variety of applications such as coral cultivation, assays for coral growth, and reef restoration.

【 授权许可】

Unknown