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Landscape ecology of algal symbionts creates variation in episodes of coral bleaching

Nature volume 388, pages 265–269 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Reef-building corals are obligate, mutualistic symbioses of heterotrophic animals and phototrophic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.)1. Contrary to the earlier, widely accepted belief that corals harbour only one symbiont, we found that the ecologically dominant Caribbean corals Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata can act as hosts to dynamic, multi-species communities of Symbiodinium. Composition of these communities follows gradients of environmental irradiance, implying that physiological acclimatization2,3,4 is not the only mechanism by which corals cope with environmental heterogeneity. The importance of this diversity was underlined by analysis of a natural episode of coral bleaching. Patterns of bleaching could be explained by the preferential elimination of a symbiont associated with low irradiance from the brightest parts of its distribution. Comparative analyses of symbionts before and after bleaching from the same corals supported this interpretation, and suggested that some corals were protected from bleaching by hosting an additional symbiont that is more tolerant of high irradiance and temperature. This ‘natural experiment’ suggests that temporal and spatial variability can favour the coexistence of diverse symbionts within a host, despite the potential for destabilizing competition among them5,6.

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Figure 1: Symbiont communities in M. annularis
Figure 2: Symbiont zonation in columns of M. annularis.
Figure 3: Bleaching in M. annularis (a, c) and M. faveolata (b, d) at the study site on 28 October 1995 showing ‘shallow’ (a, b) and ‘deep’ (c, d) patterns. e, Sea surface temperatures (three-week running means, from satellite data30) at the San Blas Islands, Panama.
Figure 4: Symbiont communities before (January 1995) and during (October 1995) an episode of coral bleaching.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Robertson for alerting us to the bleaching event; J. Maté and E. Gomez for assistance; K. Kaufmann for help with temperature records; R. W. Buddemeier, J. B. C. Jackson and W.Toller for comments on the manuscript; and the Government of Panama and the Kuna nation for allowing access to the site and collecting. This research was supported by the Smithsonian Institution, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the NIH and NOAA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. *Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado, 2072, Balboa, Panama

    Rob Rowan, Nancy Knowlton, Andrew Baker & Javier Jara

  2. †University of Guam Marine Laboratory, Mangilao, 96923, Guam, USA

    Rob Rowan

  3. ‡Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Unversity of Miami, Miami, 33149, Florida, USA

    Andrew Baker

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Correspondence to Rob Rowan.

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Rowan, R., Knowlton, N., Baker, A. et al. Landscape ecology of algal symbionts creates variation in episodes of coral bleaching. Nature 388, 265–269 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/40843

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