Coral reefs play an important physiological and ecological role in coastal ecosystems such as providing natural breakwaters that protect shorelines and human settlements from waves and storm. Corals killed by tsunami, waves and storms are often degraded into rubble. This rubble is dynamic, easily shifted by currents and storms, which effectively forms ‘‘killing fields’’ for coral juveniles, hin...

The environmental processes that prevent reef framework development in areas with a diverse and dense cover of coral were investigated in the southern Arabian Gulf (Dubai, UAE), the southwestern Indian Ocean (South Africa) and the central Caribbean (Cayman Islands, BWI). In Dubai, temperature anomalies predicted to recur every 10-15 yr cause repeated mass mortalities of Acropora spp., the domin...

Background Often called the rainforests of the sea, coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, but this diversity is in trouble. Recently, coral reefs are thought to be experiencing a worldwide decline from increases in pollution and global temperatures, and certain coral reef ecosystems are more threatened than others (Jackson 2010). Coral reefs are considered to be one of th...

Given climate change, thermal stress-related mass coral-bleaching events present one of the greatest anthropogenic threats to coral reefs. While corals and their symbiotic algae may respond to future temperatures through genetic adaptation and shifts in community compositions, the climate may change too rapidly for coral response. To test this potential for response, here we develop a model of ...

The threats of wide-scale coral bleaching and reef demise associated with anthropogenic climate change are widely known. Moreover, rates of genetic adaptation and/or changes in the coral-zooxanthella partnerships are considered unlikely to be sufficiently fast for corals to acquire increased physiological resistance to increasing sea temperatures and declining pH. However, it has been suggested...

Citation: Daniels CA, Baumgarten S, Yum LK, Michell CT, Bayer T, Arif C, Roder C, Weil E and Voolstra CR (2015) Metatranscriptome analysis of the reef-building coral Orbicella faveolata indicates holobiont response to coral disease. Front. Mar. Sci. 2:62. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2015.00062 Metatranscriptome analysis of the reef-building coral Orbicella faveolata indicates holobiont response to coral...

is it that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing is without poison. It is the dose only that makes a thing not a poison. Coral reefs, already one of the most delicate marine systems, are threatened by a host of pressures, including sea temperature increases , pollution, development, fishing, and tourism. Last March, the U.S. government unveiled an ambitious plan that addresses the mo...

The global degradation of coral reefs is having profound eVects on the structure and species richness of associated reef Wsh assemblages. Historically, variation in the composition of Wsh communities has largely been attributed to factors aVecting settlement of reef Wsh larvae. However, the mechanisms that determine how Wsh settlers respond to diVerent stages of coral stress and the extent of c...

It is well known that different coral species have different tolerances to thermal or cold stress, which is presumed to be related to the density of Symbiodinium. However, the intrinsic factors between stress-tolerant characteristics and coral-associated bacteria are rarely studied. In this study, 16 massive coral and 9 branching coral colonies from 6 families, 10 genera, and 18 species were co...

Global climate change and local anthropogenic stressors have been identified as primary causes for coral reef degradation and are targets of research to assess anthropogenic impacts (Aronson & Precht, 2006; Crabbe, 2010; Fung et al., 2011;Muthukrishnan & Fong, 2014). The first scientific observation of a coral-algal phase shift (Figure 1), which is defined as a transition from coral to algal do...