Differential susceptibility of reef-building corals to deoxygenation reveals remarkable hypoxia tolerance
Coral collection and laboratory acclimationCorals were obtained from the nursery at Mote Marine Laboratory’s Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research & Restoration. Acropora cervicornis fragments (apical tips ~ 5–6 cm in length) were obtained from Mote’s in situ nursery and mounted to a plastic base with marine epoxy (Instant Ocean Holdfast). The A. cervicornis genotypes used in this study were Mote Marine Laboratory genotype numbers 7, 31, 50, 57, and 70 (n = 12 ramets from each of the 5 genets). The coral O. faveolata was obtained from Mote’s ex situ nursery as fragments (~ 3–4 cm2) attached to individual carbonate plugs. Six genotypes of O. faveolata were used in deoxygenation treatments from genotype numbers F3A, F8, F27, F61, F125, and F132 (n = 12 ramets from each of the 6 genets). The immediate environmental conditions at the ex situ coral nursery are not known in detail, however the corals were maintained in an open, flow-through system with high flow rates and continuous bubbling with air stones.Corals were transported to the wet lab facilities at the Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS) in Fort Pierce, FL and experiments were conducted between October and December 2019. Corals were acclimated to laboratory conditions for 4–6 weeks before exposure to deoxygenation treatments. During this period, corals were kept in an indoor, closed seawater system. Holding tanks contained ~ 570 L of seawater that was recirculated through a sump containing rigorous aeration (ambient air) and a heater/chiller that maintained the temperature at ~ 27 ºC (see Table S3 for all parameters). Water was pumped from the sump through a UV sterilizer (Coralife) and then back into the holding tank. Water flow and circulation was maintained by two aquarium pumps (AquaTop MaxFlow MCP-5), and yielded a full water exchange through the sump ~ 8.5 times per hour. Light was provided by LED aquarium lights (HQD) with a maximum photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of ~ 300 µmol photon m−2 s−1. Full water changes were conducted weekly, and non-living surfaces on the coral fragments (e.g., plastic or carbonate bases) were cleaned at least once a week to reduce algal growth. Conditions within the acclimation tanks closely matched the ambient (i.e., normoxic) conditions at the collection locations and in the oxygen treatments (Table S3, Fig. S4).Field dissolved oxygen conditionsOxygen concentrations were monitored at Mote Marine Laboratory’s in situ nursery (24.56 latitude, − 81.40 longitude) at the depth of coral outplants (~ 5–6 m) to parameterize oxygen conditions used in laboratory experiments. A dissolved oxygen sensor (miniDot, PMEL) was calibrated according to manufacturer protocols and attached to the benthos adjacent to coral outplants. Dissolved oxygen and temperature were logged every ten minutes for the duration of deployment. Hourly and daily average DO concentrations are presented for one month encompassing the approximate time of coral retrievals (Fig. S4). The 6.25 mg L−1 treatment in the laboratory experiments simulates the average normoxic conditions at the site of collection (6.18 ± 0.10, SD), while the most severe deoxygenation treatment (1.00 mg L−1) simulated extreme oxygen depletion that has occurred during acute deoxygenation events on coral reefs21,22,52 (Fig. S4). The two intermediate deoxygenation treatments represented incremental increases by ~ 2 mg L−1 to capture coral responses over a full range of oxygen conditions (Fig. S4).Experimental designDeoxygenation experiments were conducted in the wet lab facilities at SMS using a mesocosm array consisting of 12 tanks (50 L, AquaLogic Systems), with each tank functioning as a closed system with fully independent temperature and oxygen control. Targeted oxygen levels for treatments were 1.00, 2.25, 4.25, and 6.25 mg L−1 DO, with three independent tank replicates for each oxygen level. Oxygen treatments are referred to by the targeted DO concentrations. Species were run in separate, sequential experiments, and genotypes within a species were co-mingled in treatment tanks with one replicate of each genotype per tank.Oxygen concentrations were maintained in each independent tank by bubbling seawater with nitrogen gas and ambient air, with gas injection controlled through a DO feedback and solenoid valves (Neptune Systems). Oxygen levels were monitored every 15 s in each tank by an OxyGuard DO probe connected to an aquarium controller (Neptune Systems, Apex Aquacontroller), which opened or closed the respective solenoid valves to add nitrogen or air in order to maintain the programmed treatment conditions. Oxygen probes were calibrated at the start of experiments, and then again after five days, following the manufacturer’s protocol.Temperature control was maintained in treatment aquaria through an independent heating/chilling loop in each tank and monitored by AquaLogic temperature probes (sensu53). The average temperature at the collection site in the month prior to collection was 29.01 ± 0.62 ℃ (SD) (Fig. S4), which represents seasonally warm temperatures of the Florida Keys54,55. To reduce the potential confounding effects of temperature on responses to deoxygenation, we acclimated corals to 27 ℃ during the holding period, and conducted experiments at ~ 27 ℃. This represents the average annual temperature at the collection site in the Florida Keys, is the temperature that O. faveolata fragments were maintained at in the ex situ nursery prior to collection (27.0 ± 0.62 ℃), and is commonly used as the ambient temperature for corals from this location54,56. Each tank contained an additional probe (Neptune Systems) that logged temperature every 10 s for the duration of the experiment. In addition to continuous monitoring of DO and temperature, discrete measurements were taken each day for DO, temperature, pH, and salinity with a handheld multi-parameter water quality meter (YSI ProDSS with optical DO sensor) (Tables 1, 2, Tables S1, S2). The YSI DO probe was calibrated at the start of every day following manufacturer protocols and used to validate DO measurements from OxyGuard probes and to adjust programmed values to maintain treatment targets when necessary.Individual tanks were supplied with a 7-color LED aquarium light (Aquaillumination, Hydra 52), programmed to simulate a diel light cycle over a 12:12 h photoperiod, and set to maximum irradiance of ~ 300 µmol photon m−2 s−1 (PAR). This maximum intensity is likely lower than what corals may experience in situ during peak midday irradiances, however, it matches the irradiance levels these corals were maintained at in the ex situ nursery (320 ± 182 SD, n = 45) and is sufficient to stimulate maximal photosynthesis without causing light stress45. Light levels were measured with a light meter (Licor, LI-1400) and an underwater spherical quantum sensor (LI-193SA) submerged at the center of each tank at the start of each experiment and again after five days. Oxygen, temperature, and light conditions were effectively maintained at or near targeted levels for the duration of each experiment (Fig. 1, Table 1), with minimal differences between replicate tanks within a treatment (Tables S1, S2). We did not simultaneously manipulate pH in treatment tanks, which resulted in differences in pH between treatments due to bubbling with nitrogen gas (Tables 1, 2).Coral conditionCorals were monitored daily during the experiments for changes in live tissue cover and photophysiology, and then destructively sampled at the end of the experiment for symbiont densities. Fragments were visually evaluated at each time point for evidence of bleaching, tissue loss, and mortality. Tissue loss was quantified as the percent of each fragment with exposed skeleton, resulting from the sloughing of tissue. Fragments were categorized as dead when all living tissue was lost.The A. cervicornis experiment ended after five days, at which point 50% of corals in the lowest DO treatment were dead or displayed partial mortality. We ended the O. faveolata experiment after 11 days, more than twice the duration of the A. cervicornis experiment (Fig. 1), at which point no observable signs of deterioration were detected in corals from any treatment (Fig. 2a).PAM fluorometryPAM fluorometry is a non-destructive method that directly measures chlorophyll fluorescence and the activity of photosystem II (PSII)57, and the quantum yield can be used as a proxy for coral stress36,58. For all PAM readings, one measurement was taken from the same position on each fragment with the probe held at a 90º angle ~ 0.5 cm from the coral surface (angle and distance were maintained with a Walz probe holder). To optimize initial fluorescence (F0) to between 300–500, the following PAM settings were used: gain = 2, damp = 2, saturation intensity = 8, saturation width = 0.8, and measuring light intensity = 10 for A. cervicornis and 6 for O. faveolata. PAM measurements were taken pre-dawn daily, at 0500–0600 h. The position on A. cervicornis fragments was shifted if tissue sloughing occurred so that measurements were taken on living tissue. After the final PAM measurements, corals were snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at − 80 ºC for subsequent analyses.Symbiont densitySymbiont density analyses were conducted at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL following standard protocols (sensu59). In brief, tissue was stripped from the coral skeleton with an air brush (Master Airbrush S68) and filtered seawater. The tissue slurry was then homogenized with a handheld electric tissue homogenizer (Tissue-Tearor) and subsampled for symbiont counts. Symbiont cells were counted with a hemocytometer, with six replicate counts per fragment. Replicate counts were averaged per fragment for all analyses.Surface area of A. cervicornis fragments was determined by wax dipping60 and the surface area of O. faveolata fragments was determined through image analysis in ImageJ. For A. cervicornis, surface area was then corrected by the percent tissue loss recorded for each fragment. Symbiont densities were normalized to fragment live tissue surface area and expressed as cells per cm−2.Statistical analysesAll analyses were conducted in R (v 4.0.2)61. The effects of fixed and random factors were evaluated with linear mixed effects models using the package lme462. Normality and homoscedasticity of variances of response variables were evaluated by visual inspection of residuals and Levene’s tests, respectively. All variables met model assumptions, and results are reported for full models that included all fixed and random effects.For maximum quantum yield and tissue loss, the factor corresponding to measurements repeated daily from the start to end of the experiment (i.e., Day 1, 2, 3, etc.) is referred to as “day”. Day, genotype, and treatment were treated as fixed factors in the analysis of maximum quantum yield and tissue loss, with individual included as a random factor to account for repeated measures, and tank as random factor to account for fragments of different genotypes within a tank (Tables 2, 3). For symbiont density, genotype and treatment were analyzed as fixed factors, and tank as a random factor (Table 4). The significance of fixed effects was evaluated with type II ANOVA tables using Satterthwaite’s method, and Tukey’s post-hoc tests were used where necessary to determine significant differences between levels of a factor using the package emmeans63. Data in main figures in which genotype was not a significant effect (i.e., all response variables) are presented as treatment averages (± SE), pooled across genotypes. More
