Keywords
microbiome
coral bleaching
microsymbionts
Categories
How to Cite
Abstract
Caribbean and tropical western Atlantic reefs have declined drastically since the 1970s. In some locales like the Florida Keys, the decline of branching corals approached 98%. These declines are widely attributed to recurring stressors such as high ocean temperatures and disease. The preservation and restoration of reefs is imperative as coral reefs support 25% of the world's known marine species and create billions of dollars in economic value. However, current restoration efforts have low success rates, so researchers are looking to better understand how stony corals respond to and overcome these stressors. Pioneering efforts to elucidate the role of the coral microbiome have shown that microbes are an important component for stony coral health, nutrition, and disease defense. This publication is for various natural resource professionals who want information on corals, microbiomes, and how coral microbial ecology research is pushing our knowledge of corals and restoration forward.
References
Arias-González, J. E., I. B. Baums, A. T. Banaszak, C. Prada, S. Rossi, E. A. Hernandez-Delgado, and B. Rinkevich, eds. 2022. Coral Reef Restoration in a Changing World: Science-based Solutions. Frontiers in Marine Science. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88976-349-8
Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA). 2022. “Coral Bleaching.” https://www.agrra.org/coral-bleaching/
Barott, K. L., A. A. Venn, S. O. Perez, S. Tambutté, and M. Tresguerres. 2015. “Coral host cells acidify symbiotic algal microenvironment to promote photosynthesis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 (2): 607–612. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413483112
Berg, G., D. Rybakova, D. Fischer, T. Cernava, M. -C. Champmier Verges, T. Charles, X. Chen, et al. 2020. “Microbiome Definition Re-visited: Old Concepts and New Challenges.” Microbiome 8: 103. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00875-0
Blackall, L. L., B. Wilson, and M. J. H. van Oppen. 2015. “Coral—The World’s Most Diverse Symbiotic Ecosystem.” Molecular Ecology 24 (21): 5330–5347. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13400
Bramhachari, P. V, ed. 2021. Microbiome in Human Health and Disease. Singapore: Springer Nature.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3156-6
Buerger, P., C. Alvarez-Roa, C. W. Coppin, S. L. Pearce, L. J. Chakravarti, J. G. Oakeshott, O. R. Edwards, and M. J. H. Van Oppen. 2020. “Heat-evolved microalgal symbionts increase coral bleaching tolerance.” Sci Adv 6 (20): eaba2498. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba2498
Carlson, R. R., L. B. Crowder, R. E. Martin, and G. P. Asner. 2024. “The Effect of Reef Morphology on Coral Recruitment at Multiple Spatial Scales.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 121 (4): e2311661121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311661121
Ceh, J., M. R. Kilburn, J. B. Cliff, J. -B. Raina, M. van Keulen, and D. G. Bourne. 2013. “Nutrient Cycling in Early Coral Life Stages: Pocillopora damicornislarvae provide their algal symbiont (Symbiodinium) with nitrogen acquired from bacterial associates.” Ecology and Evolution 3 (8): 2393–2400. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.642
Ceh, J., M. van Keulen, and D. G. Bourne. 2013. “Intergenerational Transfer of Specific Bacteria in Corals and Possible Implications for Offspring Fitness.” Microbial Ecology 65:227–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-012-0105-z
Chen, G., H. Zhu, and Y. Zhang. 2003. “Soil Microbial Activities and Carbon and Nitrogen Fixation.” Research in Microbiology 154 (6): 393–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0923-2508(03)00082-2
Cramer, K. L., M. K. Donovan, J. B. C. Jackson, B. J. Greenstein, C. A. Korpanty, G. M. Cook, and J. M. Pandolfi. 2021. “The Transformation of Caribbean Coral Communities since Humans.” Ecology and Evolution 11 (15): 10098–10118. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7808
Dubinsky, Z., and N. Stambler, eds. 2011. Coral Reefs: An Ecosystem in Transition. Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0114-4
Egert, M., R. Simmering, and C. U. Riedel. 2017. “The Association of the Skin Microbiota With Health, Immunity, and Disease.” Clin. Pharmacology & Therapeutics 102 (1): 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.698
Goodson, M. S., L. F. Whitehead, and A. E. Douglas. 2001. “Symbiotic Dinoflagellates in Marine Cnidaria: Diversity and Function.” Hydrobiologia 461: 79–82. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012766609448
Henry, J., R. P. Yanong, M. McGuire, and J. T. Patterson. 2018. “An Informational Guide to Common Stony Corals of Florida: FA210/FA210, 10/2018.” EDIS 2018 (5). https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-fa210-2018
Lacruz-Pleguezuelos, B., L. P. Fernández, A. R. de Molina, E. C. de Santa Pau, and L. J. Marcos-Zambrano. 2022. “Bioinformatic Methods for Stratification of Obese Patients and Identification of Cancer Susceptibility Biomarkers Based on the Analysis of the Gut Microbiome.” bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.17.516892
Libertucci, J., and V. B. Young. 2018. “The Role of the Microbiota in Infectious Diseases.” Nature Microbiology 4: 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0278-4
Miller, M., A. Bourque, and J. Bohnsack. 2002. “An Analysis of the Loss of Acroporid Corals at Looe Key, Florida, USA: 1983–2000.” Coral Reefs 21: 179–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-002-0228-7
Mohamed, A. R., M. A. Ochsenkühn, A. M. Kazlak, A. Moustafa, and S. A. Amin. 2023. “The Coral Microbiome: Towards an Understanding of the Molecular Mechanisms of Coral-microbiota Interactions.” FEMS Microbiology Reviews 47 (2). https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuad005
Mohamed, H. F., Y. Chen, A. Abd-Elgawad, R. Cai, and C. Xu. 2022. “The Unseen Drivers of Coral Health; Coral Microbiome; The Hope for Effective Coral Restoration.” The Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 31 (2): 989–1006. https://doi.org/10.15244/pjoes/141044
Montano, S. 2020. “The Extraordinary Importance of Coral-Associated Fauna.” Diversity 12 (9): 357. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12090357
Muñiz-Castillo, A. I., A. Rivera-Sosa, I. Chollett, C. M. Eakin, L. Andrade-Gomez, M. McField, and J. E. AriasGonzalez. 2019. “Three Decades of Heat Stress Exposure in Caribbean Coral Reefs: A New Regional Delineation to Enhance Conservation.” Scientific Reports 9: 11013. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47307-0
Peixoto, R. S., P. M. Rosado, D. C. de Assis Leite, A. S. Rosado, and D. G. Bourne. 2017. “Beneficial Microorganisms for Corals (BMC): Proposed Mechanisms for Coral Health and Resilience.” Frontiers in Microbiology 8: 341. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00341
Peixoto, R. S., M. Sweet, H. D. M. Villela, P. Cardoso, T. Thomas, C. R. Voolstra, L. Høj, and D. G. Bourne. 2021. “Coral Probiotics: Premise, Promise, Prospects.” Annual Review of Animal Biosciences 9: 265–288. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-animal-090120-115444
Prideaux, B., and A. Pabel. 2018. Coral Reefs: Tourism, Conservation and Management. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315537320
Reshef, L., O. Koren, Y. Loya, I. Zilber-Rosenberg, and E. Rosenberg. 2006. “The Coral Probiotic Hypothesis.” Environmental Microbiology 8 (12): 2068–2073. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01148.x
Salih, A., A. Larkum, G. Cox, M. Kühl, and O. HoeghGuldberg. 2000. “Fluorescent pigments in corals are photoprotective.” Nature 408: 850–853. https://doi.org/10.1038/35048564
Shanahan, F., T. S. Ghosh, and P. W. O’Toole. 2021. “The Healthy Microbiome—What is the definition of a healthy gut microbiome?” Gastroenterology 160 (2): 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2020.09.057
Sheppard, C. R. C., S. Davy, G. Pilling, and N. Graham. 2017. The Biology of Coral Reefs. 2nd edition. England: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198787341.001.0001
Shnit-Orland, M., and A. Kushmaro. 2009. “Coral Mucusassociated Bacteria: A Possible First Line of Defense.” FEMS Microbiology Ecology 67 (3): 371–380. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2008.00644.x
Silliman, B., A. Abelson, C. Angelini, G. Krause, M. I. Saunders, and T. Van Der Heide, eds. 2023. Marine Ecosystem Restoration (MER) - Challenges and New Horizons. Frontiers in Marine Science. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-8325-3659-9
Thurber, R. V., L. D. Mydlarz, M. Brandt, D. Harvel, E. Weil, L. Raymundo, B. L. Willis, et al. 2020. “Deciphering Coral Disease Dynamics: Integrating Host, Microbiome, and the Changing Environment.” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.575927
van Oppen, M. J. H., and L. L. Blackall. 2019. “Coral Microbiome Dynamics, Functions and Design in a Changing World.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 17: 557–567. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0223-4
Vanwonterghem, I., and N. S. Webster. 2020. “Coral Reef Microorganisms in a Changing Climate.” iScience 23 (4): 100972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.100972
Velázquez-Ochoa, R., and S. Enríquez. 2023. “Environmental Degradation of the Mexican Caribbean Reef Lagoons.” Marine Pollution Bulletin 191: 114947. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114947
Vilas Bhagwat, P., C. Ravindran, and L. Irudayarajan. 2023. “Characterization of the Defense Properties of Healthy and Diseased Coral Mucus.” Journal of Invertebrate. Pathology 201: 108001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2023.108001
Voolstra, C. R., M. Aranda, Y. Zhan, and J. Dekker. 2021. “Symbiodinium microadriaticum (Coral Microalgal Endosymbiont).” Trends in Genetics 37 (11): 1044–1045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2021.08.008
Voolstra, C. R., D. J. Suggett, R. S. Peixoto, J. E. Parkinson, K. M. Quigley, C. B. Silveira, M. Sweet, et al. 2021. “Extending the Natural Adaptive Capacity of Coral Holobionts.” Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 2: 747–762 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00214-3
Ushijima, B., S. P. Gunasekera, J. L. Meyer, J. Tittl, K. A. Pitts, S. Thompson, J. M. Sneed, et al. 2023. “Chemical and Genomic Characterization of a Potential Probiotic Treatment for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease.” Communications Biology 6: 248. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04590-y
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2024 UF/IFAS