Talk presented at the 2014 Benthic Ecology Meeting in Jacksonville. Presented by Courtney Klepac, the talk focused on the coral associated zooxanthellae communities of the St Lucie Reef
5. St. Lucie Inlet State Park
• Latitudinal limit for
many Caribbean corals
• Shallow (~6m)
• Contributes to local
economies
Montastraea cavernosa Pseudodiploria clivosa
9. Density Changes Over Time &
Differs Between Host Coral Species
3-way ANOVA
Season: p <0.0001
Species: p <0.0001
Site: p>0.05
10. Chlorophyll per Cell Differs Over
Time & Between Host Coral Species
3-way ANOVA
Season: p 0.04195
Species: p <0.0001
Site: p >0.05
11. Total Chlorophyll per Coral cm2 is
Correlated with Zooxanthellae Density
3-way ANOVA
Season: p <0.0001
Species: p 0.0108
Site: p >0.05
Pearson’s Corr.
Density x chl a/cm:
p <0.0001
r 0.6956
17. M. cavernosa Wider
Caribbean Communities
C3d, C3e
C3d, C3e, C3g
C3e
C.J, C.D, C.?,
B1, B2, A2, A4
C3o, C3p, D1a
C3
LaJeunesse 2002, Savage et al. 2002, Finney et al. 2010, LaJeunesse et al. 2010
18. P. clivosa Wider Caribbean
Communities
B1
B1, D1a
Finney et al. 2010
B1, C.J., C.D., C.?
19. Summary
• Density, chlorophyll concentrations, and
Symbiodinium diversity differ between hosts
• No local site effects among measured
variables
• Zoox density and chlorophyll/cell change over
time
• Novel Symbiodinium associations in both
coral hosts
• Symbiodinium community composition
remains relatively stable
B
C
A
20. Dr. Clayton Cook, Dr. Misha Matz, Carly Kenkel, Lisa Cohen,
Mike Studivan, Ashley Sproles, Maureen Williams, Jennifer
Polinski, Charles Jabalay, Vincent Encomio, Dr. Dennis Hanisak,
Kristen Davis, Dr. Greg O’Corry-Crowe
Acknowledgements
Notas del editor
Ecological guilds- 1. abundant residents; 2. low background, potentially opportunistic. Ecological niche differs among species of Symbiodinium. Corals can harbor Symbiodinium in a flexible association or one that is stable, or zoox constituents remain relatively unchanged. Introduce expulsion as regulatory or a means to cope with stress. Corals can recover by having an adapted assemblage, preconditioned to the local environmental conditions, or by shuffling or switching. Less is known about which of these mechanisms is more beneficial for the holobiont, especially in variable coastal reef habitats.
Therefore, one of the goals of my project is to examine the ecology of the Symbiodinium…
SLR receives nutrient rich, freshwater discharge that originates from Lake Okeechobee. Land use dominated by citrus, agricultural lands. LO is the primary drainage basin of all water in CFL. In the wet season (May-Oct.), nutrient levels and floodwaters rise in LO. When levels reach 15’, scheduled releases via locks and canals. During the release,water is transported into estuary, along with drainage from the Kiss basin. Within the estuary, salinity levels decrease accordingly. This discharge, mixes with local contaminants from Martin County, enters the inlet, and is transported over the reef. As a result but dependent on magnitude, it is hypothesized a gradient dilutes southward over the reef tract. This can be supported by a higher diversity and abundance at sites distal from inlet.In addition to seasonality, upwelling events can also impact the coral-algal holobiont at SLR. Seasonal cold-water supplies additional nutrients and lowers temp that normally range from 21-32 down to 17°C.Multiple reefs in FL experience both discharge and upwelling effects. I am specifically interested in the local conditions that may influence SLR.
To determine whether the environmental fluctuations occurring near the reef have any influence on Symbiodinium diversity, abundance and community structure; I examined the symbionts at SLR over five seasons.3. So Symbiopopulations could either respond to seasonality by assemblage changes or they can remain stable and acclimated to these fluctuations Potential influences over time- temp, water quality, upwelling, seasonality
Add subtitles
the five sampling events which cover five seasons are on the x axis and zoox dens is on the y. There were large discharge events during the summer and fall of 2013,
Chlorophyll cellular content Prelim analyses of cell volume, M. cav cells were almost 2x the size of P.cli cells, providing room for more chlorophyll pigments
Chlorophyll per tissue area scaled up from chl/zoox cell. Even though m.cav have fewer zooxs, increased cellular chlconc within its zooxs appear to compensate for this
The physiological differences observed between the two species can be supported when we look at the results from the ITS2 region sequences.
A is opportunistic, fast growing, generally associated with health compromised. It’s appearance during a dry spring could be related to lack of runoff and higher water clarity.
Summer was extremely rainy where discharge of LO exceeded 100m3/s
Summer was extremely rainy where discharge of LO exceeded 100m3/s
Cell density changes with seasonality and affects chlorophyll concentrationsM. cavernosa and P. clivosa harbor novelclade C types, and subclades B1, B2, A2, and A4