Distinctive wound-healing characteristics in the corals Pocillopora damicornis and Acropora hyacinthus found in two different temperature regimes
نویسنده
چکیده
Wound healing is a critical physiological function needed for survival in all marine organisms. However, it is particularly critical in organisms like corals, which cannot escape predators. In this study, I characterized the gross morphology of wound healing in Pocillopora damicornis and Acropora hyacinthus found in two pools with distinct previously documented temperature profiles in Ofu, American Samoa. I observed differences between healing rates of A. hyacinthus versus P. damicornis, but no significant difference in healing rates between A. hyacinthus colonies found in different environmental regimes. Both coral species exhibit very distinct healing phenotypes, where A. hyacinthus develops a pink pigmentation and P. damicornis forms an algal/sand plug. The algal/sand plug appeared in corals found in the highly variable pool more quickly than in the corals from the moderately variable pool. Lastly, P. damicornis appeared to never fully heal during this two-week study, indicating that it is a slower healer despite predation pressure.
منابع مشابه
Temperature Dependence of Respiration in Larvae and Adult Colonies of the Corals Acropora tenuis and Pocillopora damicornis
Although algal symbionts can become a source of reactive oxygen species under stressful conditions, symbiotic planulae of the coral Pocillopora damicornis are highly tolerant to thermal stress compared with non-symbiotic planulae of Acropora tenuis. As a first step to understand how P. damicornis planulae attain high stress tolerance, we compared the respiration rate and temperature dependence ...
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