Project: Influence of environmental pH variability and thermal sensitivity on the resilience of reef-building corals to acidification stress

Acronym/Short Name:Coral Resilience
Project Duration:2019-10 - 2024-03
Geolocation:Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, HI; Heron Island, Queensland, Australia

Description

NSF Award Abstract:
Coral reefs are incredibly diverse ecosystems that provide food, tourism revenue, and shoreline protection for coastal communities. The ability of coral reefs to continue providing these services to society is currently threatened by climate change, which has led to increasing ocean temperatures and acidity that can lead to the death of corals, the animals that build the reef framework upon which so many species depend. This project examines how temperature and acidification stress work together to influence the future health and survival of corals. The scientists are carrying out the project in Hawaii where they have found individual corals with different sensitivities to temperature stress that are living on reefs with different environmental pH conditions. This project improves understanding of how an individual coral's history influences its response to multiple stressors and helps identify the conditions that are most likely to support resilient coral communities. The project will generate extensive biological and physicochemical data that will be made freely available. Furthermore, this project supports the education and training of undergraduate and high school students and one postdoctoral researcher in marine science and coral reef ecology. Hands-on activities for high school students are being developed into a free online educational resource.

This project compares coral responses to acidification stress in populations experiencing distinct pH dynamics (high diel variability vs. low diel variability) and with distinct thermal tolerances (historically bleaching sensitive vs. tolerant) to learn about how coral responses to these two factors differ between coral species and within populations. Experiments focus on the two dominant reef builders found at these stable and variable pH reefs: Montipora capitata and Porites compressa. Individuals of each species exhibiting different thermal sensitivities (i.e., bleached vs. pigmented) were tagged during the 2015 global coral bleaching event. This system tests the hypotheses that 1) corals living on reefs with larger diel pH fluctuations have greater resilience to acidification stress, 2) coral resilience to acidification is a plastic trait that can be promoted via acclimatization, and 3) thermally sensitive corals have reduced capacity to cope with pH stress, which is exacerbated at elevated temperatures. Coral cells isolated from colonies from each environmental and bleaching history are exposed to acute pH stress and examined for their ability to recover intracellular pH in vivo using confocal microscopy, and the expression level of proteins predicted to be involved in this recovery (e.g., proton transporters) is examined via Western blot and immunolocalization. Corals from each pH history are exposed to stable and variable seawater pH in a controlled aquarium setting to determine the level of plasticity of acidification resilience and to test for pH acclimatization in this system. Finally, corals with different levels of thermal sensitivity are exposed to thermal stress and recovery, and their ability to regulate pH is examined over time. The results of these experiments help identify reef conditions that promote coral resilience to ocean acidification against the background of increasingly common thermal stress events, while advancing mechanistic understanding of coral physiology and symbiosis.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.


DatasetLatest Version DateCurrent State
2024-11-05Data not available
2024-11-05Data not available
2024-11-05Data not available
Gene expression of Pocillopora damicornis collected from reef of Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef from Jan 2021 to Feb 20212024-11-05Preliminary and in progress
2024-11-05Final no updates expected
Thermal tolerance (ED50) data used to compare previously published regional (Florida Reef Tract, Coral Sea, Red Sea) coral thermal tolerance with Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef values measured in 20222024-05-07Final no updates expected
Photochemical yield and color score data from short-term heat stress assays performed with with corals collected from sites around Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in Sept and Oct of 20222024-05-07Final no updates expected
Temperature data from short-term heat stress assays performed with with corals collected from sites around Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in Sept and Oct of 20222024-05-07Final no updates expected
Sizes of larvae from 4-11 days post-fertilization from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-27Final no updates expected
Respiration rates and protein content of larvae from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-27Final no updates expected
Eggs size per bundle measurements following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022.2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Long-term body column lengths and tentacle numbers of larvae and juveniles from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Heat tolerance (survival) of juveniles at 6 WPF following heat shock from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Larvae in the planula stage 3 days post-fertilization following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022.2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Data pertaining to dose-response curves (DRC) quantifying survival of larvae after exposure to heat ramps from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Female fecundity following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022.2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Lethal temperature 50s (LT50s) displayed by larvae derived from dose-response curves after heat shock from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Settled larvae 7 days post-fertilization following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022.2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in larvae at 11 days post-fertilization (DPF) from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Egg size measurements following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022.2024-03-26Final no updates expected
Data pertaining to the development of larvae past the planula stage from experiments investigating heat priming in Nematostella vectensis2024-03-25Final no updates expected
Adult respiration after spawning following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022. 2024-03-24Final no updates expected
pH and total alkalinity measurements of treatment tub seawater during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022. 2024-03-24Final no updates expected
Larval heat tolerance of Nematostella vectensis following parental exposure to ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022. 2024-03-24Final no updates expected
Larval respiration performance of Nematostella vectensis following parental exposure to ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022. 2024-03-24Final no updates expected
Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of male gametes following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022. 2024-03-24Final no updates expected
Fertilization rate of gametes following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022. 2024-03-24Final no updates expected
Male fecundity following parental ocean acidification during lab experiments conducted in spring 2022.2024-03-18Final no updates expected
Results from motility assays carried out as part of a study investigating the role of soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) in sperm from the gonochoric, broadcast spawning coral Astrangia poculata2024-02-23Final no updates expected
Results from protein kinase A (PKA) substrate phosphorylation assays conducted to investigate the role of soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) in sperm from the gonochoric, broadcast spawning coral Astrangia poculata2024-02-13Final no updates expected
Results from bulk cyclic AMP (cAMP) assays conducted to investigate the role of soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) in sperm from the gonochoric, broadcast spawning coral Astrangia poculata2024-02-09Final no updates expected
Benthic community composition from Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef determined from 2015 to 20202024-01-23Final no updates expected
Measurements of seawater temperature, depth, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) across seven sites at Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef from 2015 to 20202024-01-19Final no updates expected
Experimental sump pCO2 data collected as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Coral physiology and intracellular pH (pHi) collected as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Symbiont psbA and ORF host sequences generated as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Net calcification of coral fragments collected as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Intracellular pH (pHi) data collected as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Experimental and in situ seawater nutrient data collected as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Experimental and in situ seawater temperature data collected as part of a study of pCO2 variability on the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis conducted at Heron Island Research Station, Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef in 20212022-12-20Final no updates expected
Physiology measurements on collected coral pairs from Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, HI between July and December 20192021-06-03Final no updates expected

People

Principal Investigator: Katie Barott
University of Pennsylvania (Penn)

Contact: Katie Barott
University of Pennsylvania (Penn)


Data Management Plan

DMP_Barott_OCE-1923743.pdf (88.42 KB)
02/09/2025