Microbial invasion of the Caribbean by an Indo-Pacific coral zooxanthella

D. Tye Pettaya, Drew C. Whama, Robin T. Smith, Roberto Iglesias-Prietoc, Todd C. LaJeunessea

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

154 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human-induced environmental changes have ushered in the rapid decline of coral reef ecosystems, particularly by disrupting the symbioses between reef-building corals and their photosymbionts. However, escalating stressful conditions enable some symbionts to thrive as opportunists. We present evidence that a stress-tolerant "zooxanthella" from the Indo-Pacific Ocean, Symbiodinium trenchii, has rapidly spread to coral communities across the Greater Caribbean. In marked contrast to populations from the Indo-Pacific, Atlantic populations of S. trenchii contained exceptionally low genetic diversity, including several widespread and genetically similar clones. Colonies with this symbiont tolerate temperatures 1-2 ° C higher than other host-symbiont combinations; however, calcification by hosts harboring S. trenchii is reduced by nearly half, compared with those harboring natives, and suggests that these new symbioses are maladapted. Unforeseen opportunism and geographical expansion by invasive mutualistic microbes could profoundly influence the response of reef coral symbioses to major environmental perturbations but may ultimately compromise ecosystem stability and function.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7513-7518
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume112
Issue number24
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 16 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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