Effects of delayed settlement on post-settlement growth and survival of scleractinian coral larvae
Effects of delayed settlement on post-settlement growth and survival of scleractinian coral larvae
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DOI：
10.1007/s00442-013-2635-6
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发表时间：
2013-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Connolly, Sean R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Graham, Erin M.;Baird, Andrew H.;Connolly, Sean R.
人口连通性需要个体在亚种群之间的分散，以及它们随后对种群动态的贡献。对于浮游、非摄食的海洋幼虫来说，延迟沉降的能力可以实现更大的分散距离，但延迟沉降的能量成本已被证明会对几个类群的沉降后适应性产生不利影响。在这里，我们评估延迟沉降是否会影响石珊瑚 (Acropora tenuis) 沉降后前 6 周的死亡率或生长率。珊瑚幼虫在产卵后 2、4 和 6 周定居，然后部署在田间，延迟定居对定居后生存和群体形成的初始萌芽时间的影响可以忽略不计。群体间出芽率的差异似乎可以用虫黄藻定居后获取的时间变化来解释。珊瑚幼虫有可能在中上层停留更长的时间，而对定居后的生存和生长几乎没有影响，这表明延迟定居的能力可能会对广播产卵的造礁珊瑚产生有意义的人口影响，并且与其他具有非摄食幼虫的类群相比，延迟定居和定居后适应性之间的预测权衡不太适用于造礁石珊瑚。
Demographic connectivity requires both the dispersal of individuals between sub-populations, and their subsequent contribution to population dynamics. For planktonic, non-feeding marine larvae, the capacity to delay settlement enables greater dispersal distances, but the energetic cost of delayed settlement has been shown to adversely impact post-settlement fitness in several taxa. Here, we assess whether delayed settlement influences mortality rates or growth rates for the first 6 weeks following settlement of the scleractinian coral, Acropora tenuis. Coral larvae that were settled at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after spawning, and then deployed in the field, showed negligible effects of delayed settlement on post-settlement survival and time to initial budding for colony formation. Between-cohort differences in budding rate appeared to be explained by temporal variation in the post-settlement acquisition of zooxanthellae. The potential for coral larvae to remain in the pelagic zone for increased periods of time with little to no effect on post-settlement survival and growth suggests that the capacity for delayed settlement is likely to have meaningful demographic consequences for broadcast-spawning reef-building corals, and that the predicted trade-off between delayed settlement and post-settlement fitness is less applicable to reef-building scleractinian corals than other taxa with non-feeding larvae.