Abstract The iconic and threatened Caribbean coral, Acropora palmata , is an essential reef-ecosystem engineer. Understanding the processes underpinning this coral’s survival growth to restoring foundational species. Here, we compared replicate A. colonies transplanted along 350 km of Florida’s offshore coral reef determine holobiont and/or environmental variables that predict transplant succes...

Sesoko Station, Okinawa, has been the site of many significant advances in coral reproductive research and it continues to be a preferred destination for both Japanese international researchers. Consequently, there are decades spawning observations, which we present explore here with aim making easier predict when species spawn at Station. The data include over 700 observations from 87 reef-bui...

The marine gastropod, Coralliophila abbreviata, is an obligate corallivore that causes substantial mortality in Caribbean Acropora spp. Considering the imperiled status of Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata, a better understanding of ecological interactions resulting in tissue loss may enable more effective conservation strategies. We examined differences in susceptibility of A. cervicornis to...

Wound healing is a critical physiological function needed for survival in all marine organisms. However, it is particularly critical in organisms like corals, which cannot escape predators. In this study, I characterized the gross morphology of wound healing in Pocillopora damicornis and Acropora hyacinthus found in two pools with distinct previously documented temperature profiles in Ofu, Amer...

Coral reefs are degrading worldwide, but little information exists on their previous conditions for most regions of the world. Since 1989, we have been studying the Maldives, collecting data before, during and after the bleaching and mass mortality event of 1998. As early as 1999, many newly settled colonies were recorded. Recruits shifted from a dominance of massive and encrusting corals in th...

Data on colony growth of the branching coral Acropora palmata from fringing reefs off Discovery Bay on the north coast of Jamaica have been obtained over the period 2002-2007 using underwater photography and image analysis by both SCUBA and remotely using an ROV incorporating twin lasers. Growth modelling shows that while logarithmic growth is an approximate model for growth, a 3:3 rational pol...

Hundreds of species of reef-building corals spawn synchronously over a few nights each year, and moonlight regulates this spawning event. However, the molecular elements underpinning the detection of moonlight remain unknown. Here we report the presence of an ancient family of blue-light-sensing photoreceptors, cryptochromes, in the reef-building coral Acropora millepora. In addition to being c...

To understand the calcium-mediated signalling pathways underlying settlement and metamorphosis in the Scleractinian coral Acropora millepora, a predicted protein set derived from larval cDNAs was scanned for the presence of EF-hand domains (Pfam Id: PF00036). This approach led to the identification of a canonical calmodulin (AmCaM) protein and an uncharacterised member of the Neuronal Calcium S...

Space competition between corals and seaweeds is an important ecological process underlying coral-reef dynamics. Processes promoting seaweed growth and survival, such as herbivore overfishing and eutrophication, can lead to local reef degradation. Here, we present the case that increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO(2) may be an additional process driving a shift from corals to seaweeds on...