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Habitat correlation of Symbiodinium diversity in two reef-building coral species in an upwelling region, eastern Hainan Island, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2011

G. Zhou ,
H. Huang ,
J. Lian ,
C. Zhang  and
X. Li
G. Zhou
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China National Experiment Station of Tropical Marine Biology, Sanya 572000, China
H. Huang*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China National Experiment Station of Tropical Marine Biology, Sanya 572000, China
J. Lian
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
C. Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
X. Li
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: H. Huang, Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 164 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou, 510301, People's Republic of China email: huanghui@scsio.ac.cn
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Abstract

Reef-building corals are fundamental to the most diverse marine ecosystems, and the coral–dinoflagellate (zooxanthellae) associations on fine scale remains largely unknown. Spatial variation in the diversity of symbiotic dinoflagellates of two scleractinian coral species was studied in an upwelling region near Qinlan Harbor in eastern Hainan Island, China. Results showed that stress-tolerant Symbiodinium trenchi in individual colonies of Galaxea fascicularis occurred more frequently in shallow back-reef than in deep fore-reef. The higher symbiont diversity was found in colonies of G. fascicularis in shallow and close to the harbour mouth whereas the coral Pocillipora damicornis always harboured Symbiodinium internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) types C1c or C42a. Furthermore, both corals were found to simultaneously contain Symbiodinium ITS2 types belonging to two distinct phylogenetic clades (C and D). This indicates that the distribution of genetically distinct Symbiodinium may correlate with light regime and possibly temperature in some (but not all) colonies at particular locations, which we interpret as holobiont acclimation to the local environmental conditions. Therefore, we conclude that reef-building corals can adapt to the local environment by harbouring genetically distinct symbionts but depend on their respective symbiont transmission modes.

Keywords

scleractinian coralSymbiodiniumsymbiosisSouth China Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 92 , Issue 6 , September 2012 , pp. 1309 - 1316
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

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