Larval longevity and competency patterns of Caribbean reef-building corals

Phosphomonoesterases in Reef-Building Corals.

A Connection between Colony Biomass and Death in Caribbean Reef-Building Corals

Increased sea-surface temperatures linked to warming climate threaten coral reef ecosystems globally. To better understand how corals and their endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) respond to environmental change, tissue biomass and Symbiodinium density of seven coral species were measured on various reefs approximately every four months for up to thirteen years in the Upper Florid...

The Vibrio core group induces yellow band disease in Caribbean and Indo-Pacific reef-building corals.

AIMS To determine the relationship between yellow band disease (YBD)-associated pathogenic bacteria found in both Caribbean and Indo-Pacific reefs, and the virulence of these pathogens. YBD is one of the most significant coral diseases of the tropics. MATERIALS AND RESULTS The consortium of four Vibrio species was isolated from YBD tissue on Indo-Pacific corals: Vibrio rotiferianus, Vibrio ha...

Indirect effects of overfishing on Caribbean reefs: sponges overgrow reef-building corals

Consumer-mediated indirect effects at the community level are difficult to demonstrate empirically. Here, we show an explicit indirect effect of overfishing on competition between sponges and reef-building corals from surveys of 69 sites across the Caribbean. Leveraging the large-scale, long-term removal of sponge predators, we selected overfished sites where intensive methods, primarily fish-t...

Nutritional input from dinoflagellate symbionts in reef-building corals is minimal during planula larval life stage.

Dispersion of larval offspring is of fundamental ecological importance to sessile marine organisms. Photosymbiotic planulae emitted by many reef-forming corals may travel over large distances before settling to form a new colony. It is not clear whether the metabolic requirements of these planula larvae are met exclusively with lipid and protein reservoirs inherited from the mother colony or wh...