Polyp bailout in following thermal stress

Polyp bailout is an established but understudied coral stress response that involves the detachment of individual polyps from the colonial form as means of escaping unfavourable conditions. This may influence both the mortality and asexual recruitment of coral genotypes across a range of species. It was first described by Goreau & Goreau (1959) and has been observed in response to numerous stressors including high salinity and low pH. However, polyp bailout has not previously been described in association with thermal stress and the coral bleaching response, which is becoming increasingly common around the world. We present the first qualitative observation of polyp bailout following thermal stress in a mesocosm experiment. Detached polyps show similar characteristics to those described in previous studies, including the retention of endosymbiotic zooxanthellae and the ability to disperse across short distances. As the frequency of thermal stress increases globally, we suggest further detailed research into the prevalence of this response and its in situ implications for the survival of individual corals, as well as the potential for migration into cooler micro-habitats within the coral reef environment. Alexander J Fordyce ( ) Corresponding author: [email protected] Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed. Fordyce AJ, Camp EF and Ainsworth TD. How to cite this article: Polyp bailout in following thermal stress Pocillopora damicornis 2017, :687 (doi: ) [version 1; referees: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations] F1000Research 6 10.12688/f1000research.11522.1 © 2017 Fordyce AJ . This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the , Copyright: et al Creative Commons Attribution Licence which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Data associated with the article are available under the terms of the (CC0 1.0 Public domain dedication). Creative Commons Zero "No rights reserved" data waiver The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work. Grant information: 17 May 2017, :687 (doi: ) First published: 6 10.12688/f1000research.11522.1 1 2