Data

Coral recruits demonstrate thermal resilience

Name: Coral recruits demonstrate thermal resilience
Published: 2026

Australian Institute of Marine Science

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)

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ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2FANDS&rft_id=https://apps.aims.gov.au/metadata/view/d955295c-0e7e-4564-88b0-17482d3d2c0d&rft.title=Coral recruits demonstrate thermal resilience&rft.identifier=https://apps.aims.gov.au/metadata/view/d955295c-0e7e-4564-88b0-17482d3d2c0d&rft.publisher=Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)&rft.description=Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent during summer and pose a significant threat to coral reef ecosystems. Restoration efforts have the potential to support native coral populations and guard them against some degree of environmental change, while global action against climate change takes place. Interspecific hybridization is one approach through which resilient coral stock could be generated for restoration. Here we compared the performance of Acropora kenti and A. loripes hybrid and purebred coral recruits under a simulated thermal stress event. A. kenti eggs were successfully fertilized by A. loripes sperm to produce ‘KL’ hybrids, but no ‘LK’ hybrids could be produced from A. loripes eggs and A. kenti sperm. Despite corals in the elevated treatment accruing thermal stress (>12 degree heating weeks over 2 months) known to result in mass bleaching, both purebred and hybrid recruits showed no signs of stress under the simulated temperature regime, based on the performance indicators survivorship, size, color (a proxy of bleaching), and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II. Comparisons between the hybrids and purebreds studied here must be interpreted with caution because hybrid sample sizes were small. The hybrids did not outperform both of their purebred counterparts for any metrics studied here, demonstrating that there are limitations to the extent to which interspecific hybridization may boost the performance of coral stock. In general, the purebred A. loripes recruits performed best under both ambient and elevated conditions. The performance of the KL hybrid corals was similar to the maternal parental species, A. kenti, or not significantly different to either parental purebred species. The Symbiodiniaceae communities of the KL hybrids were characteristic of their maternal counterparts and may have underpinned the performance differences between the A. kenti/KL hybrid and A. loripes recruits.Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeededStatement: For full details, see Lamb, et al (2024)&rft.creator=Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) &rft.date=2026&rft.coverage=westlimit=147.64402770786546; southlimit=-18.8176872952965; eastlimit=147.64402770786546; northlimit=-18.8176872952965&rft.coverage=westlimit=147.64402770786546; southlimit=-18.8176872952965; eastlimit=147.64402770786546; northlimit=-18.8176872952965&rft_rights=Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/&rft_rights=Use Limitation: All AIMS data, products and services are provided as is and AIMS does not warrant their fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. While AIMS has made every reasonable effort to ensure high quality of the data, products and services, to the extent permitted by law the data, products and services are provided without any warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of title, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. AIMS make no representation or warranty that the data, products and services are accurate, complete, reliable or current. To the extent permitted by law, AIMS exclude all liability to any person arising directly or indirectly from the use of the data, products and services.&rft_rights=Attribution: Format for citation of metadata sourced from Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in a list of reference is as follows: Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). (2025). Coral recruits demonstrate thermal resilience. https://apps.aims.gov.au/metadata/view/d955295c-0e7e-4564-88b0-17482d3d2c0d, accessed[date-of-access].&rft_subject=oceans&rft.type=dataset&rft.language=English Access the data

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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/

Use Limitation: All AIMS data, products and services are provided "as is" and AIMS does not warrant their fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. While AIMS has made every reasonable effort to ensure high quality of the data, products and services, to the extent permitted by law the data, products and services are provided without any warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of title, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. AIMS make no representation or warranty that the data, products and services are accurate, complete, reliable or current. To the extent permitted by law, AIMS exclude all liability to any person arising directly or indirectly from the use of the data, products and services.

Attribution: Format for citation of metadata sourced from Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in a list of reference is as follows: "Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). (2025). Coral recruits demonstrate thermal resilience. https://apps.aims.gov.au/metadata/view/d955295c-0e7e-4564-88b0-17482d3d2c0d, accessed[date-of-access]".

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Full description

Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent during summer and pose a significant threat to coral reef ecosystems. Restoration efforts have the potential to support native coral populations and guard them against some degree of environmental change, while global action against climate change takes place. Interspecific hybridization is one approach through which resilient coral stock could be generated for restoration. Here we compared the performance of Acropora kenti and A. loripes hybrid and purebred coral recruits under a simulated thermal stress event. A. kenti eggs were successfully fertilized by A. loripes sperm to produce ‘KL’ hybrids, but no ‘LK’ hybrids could be produced from A. loripes eggs and A. kenti sperm. Despite corals in the elevated treatment accruing thermal stress (>12 degree heating weeks over 2 months) known to result in mass bleaching, both purebred and hybrid recruits showed no signs of stress under the simulated temperature regime, based on the performance indicators survivorship, size, color (a proxy of bleaching), and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II. Comparisons between the hybrids and purebreds studied here must be interpreted with caution because hybrid sample sizes were small. The hybrids did not outperform both of their purebred counterparts for any metrics studied here, demonstrating that there are limitations to the extent to which interspecific hybridization may boost the performance of coral stock. In general, the purebred A. loripes recruits performed best under both ambient and elevated conditions. The performance of the KL hybrid corals was similar to the maternal parental species, A. kenti, or not significantly different to either parental purebred species. The Symbiodiniaceae communities of the KL hybrids were characteristic of their maternal counterparts and may have underpinned the performance differences between the A. kenti/KL hybrid and A. loripes recruits.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Statement: For full details, see Lamb, et al (2024)

Notes

Credit
van Oppen, MJH (AIMS) & University of Melbourne

Credit
Humphrey, CA (AIMS)

Credit
Latini, L (AIMS)

Credit
McCutchan, GA

Credit
Lamb, AM Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), AIMS@JCU & University of Melbourne

Credit
Peplow, LM (AIMS)

Credit
Harrison, PL Southern Cross University

Modified: 18 09 2026

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text: westlimit=147.64402770786546; southlimit=-18.8176872952965; eastlimit=147.64402770786546; northlimit=-18.8176872952965

Subjects

oceans |

User Contributed Tags

Other Information

GitHub Repository: Juvenile-coral-thermal-resilience

url : https://github.com/AnnikaMLamb/Juvenile-coral-thermal-resilience External Link

Lamb AM, Peplow LM, Harrison PL, Humphrey CA, Latini L, McCutchan GA, van Oppen MJH. 2024. Coral recruits demonstrate thermal resilience. PeerJ 12:e18273 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18273

doi : https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.18273 DOI Link

Identifiers

global : d955295c-0e7e-4564-88b0-17482d3d2c0d