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Vol. 51 No. 8, 2012
Temporal and Spatial Variations in Symbiont Communities of
Catch Bowl Coral Isopora palifera (Scleractinia:
Acroporidae) on Reefs in Kenting National Park, Taiwan
Chia-Min
Hsu1,2, Shashank Keshavmurthy1, Vianney Denis1,
Chao-Yang Kuo1,3, Jih-Terng Wang4, Pei-Jie Meng5,6,
and Chaolun Allen Chen1,2,7,*
1Biodiversity
Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
2Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan Univ.,
Taipei 106, Taiwan
3ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies,
James Cook Univ., Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
4Institute of Biotechnology, Tajen Univ., Yanpu,
Pingtung 907, Taiwan
5National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium,
Checheng, Pingtung 944, Taiwan
6Graduate Institute of Marine Biodiversity and
Evolutionary Biology, National Donghwa Univ., Checheng, Pingtung 944,
Taiwan
7Taiwan International Graduate Program
(TIGP)-Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
Chia-Min Hsu, Shashank Keshavmurthy,
Vianney Denis, Chao-Yang Kuo, Jih-Terng Wang, Pei-Jie Meng, and Chaolun
Allen Chen (2012) Acclimatization through Symbiodinium shuffling is one of
potential mechanisms in reefbuilding corals to survive environmental
stress. In our previous study, the catch bowl coral Isopora
palifera in Tantzei Bay (TZB), Nanwan, Kenting National Park (KNP),
southern Taiwan was demonstrated to shuffle thermal-tolerant Symbiodinium D1a and
thermal-sensitive Symbiodinium
C3 in response to seasonal variations in sea surface temperatures
(SSTs) in 2000 and 2001. In this study, we reexamined the
temporal dynamics of the Symbiodinium community of I. palifera in TZB
in 2006-2009. In addition, spatial variations in Symbiodinium communities in I. palifera were also examined at 6
other sites of Nanwan, KNP in 2009, including a site located at a
nuclear power plant outlet (NPP-OL) in southern Taiwan with a yearly
mean SST 0.6-1.5°C higher compared to the other sites.
Phylotyping and DNA sequence analyses of Symbiodinium ribosomal 28S and ITS2
markers showed that I. palifera
colonies at TZB continued to show seasonal shuffling, but shifted to
thermal-sensitive type C3 dominant in 2006-2009. This differed
from the symbiont community originally dominated by the thermaltolerant
Symbiodinium D1a in 2000 and 2001 after the 1998 mass-bleaching
event. Significant differences in spatial variations of the
symbiont community in Nanwan were detected with I. palifera colonies at the NPP-OL
dominated by Symbiodinium
D1a. Our study results suggest that I. palifera can acclimatize to SST
anomalies by shuffling to thermal-tolerant Symbiodinium D1a and can revert to
thermal-sensitive C3 when the stress disappears, but will maintain the
thermally tolerant Symbiodinium
D1a as the dominant symbiont if the heat stress continues.
Key words: Isopora palifera, Symbiont shuffling,
Temporal and spatial variations, Thermal tolerance, Acclimatization.
*Correspondence: E-mail:cac@gate.sinica.edu.tw
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