An Indo-Pacifc coral spawning database

The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology

Scuba diving damage and intensity of tourist activities increases coral disease prevalence

Recreational diving and snorkeling on coral reefs is one of the fastest growing tourism sectors globally. Damage associated with intensive recreational tourist use has been documented extensively on coral reefs, however other impacts on coral health are unknown. Here, we compare the prevalence of 4 coral diseases and 8 other indicators of compromised coral health at high and low use dive sites around the island of Koh Tao, Thailand. Surveys of 10,499 corals reveal that the mean prevalence of healthy corals at low use sites (79%) was twice that at high use sites (45%). We also found a 3-fold increase in coral disease prevalence at high use sites, as well as significant increases in sponge overgrowth, physical injury, tissue necrosis from sediment, and non-normally pigmented coral tissues. Injured corals were more susceptible to skeletal eroding band disease only at high use sites, suggesting that additional stressors associated with use intensity facilitate disease development. Sediment necrosis of coral tissues was strongly associated with the prevalence of white syndromes, a devastating group of diseases, across all sites. We did not find significant differences in mean levels of coral growth anomalies or black band disease between high and low use sites. Our results suggest that several indicators of coral health increase understanding of impacts associated with rapid tourism development. Identifying practical management strategies, such as spatial management of multiple reef-based activities, is necessary to balance growth of tourism and maintenance of coral reefs

Identification of scleractinian coral recruits from Indo-Pacific reefs

Study of the early life history of scleractinian corals has been hampered by the inability to identify recently settled juveniles. To increase taxonomic resolution of coral recruits, we compared the morphology of the skeleton of juveniles raised from known parents for 29 species in 21 genera and 12 families. Juveniles from only 3 families could be reliably distinguished throughout their 1st year of life: the Acroporidae, which have a porous coenosteum, prominent septa, and no columella; the Pocilloporidae, which have a solid coenosteum, prominent septa and a prominent columella; and the Poritidae, which have septa with prominent teeth. Juveniles in the remaining families examined could not be consistently distinguished. In these taxa, the skeleton began as an epitheca with little internal structure, growth was slow, and the pattern of septal development was similar. Within the 3 distinctive families, a number of other taxa could be recognized when juveniles were young. Genera of the Pocilloporidae could be distinguished by size differences in the diameter of the primary corallite. Isopora, Acropora, and Montipora juveniles could be distinguished by differences in the size of the corallum at settlement. Juveniles of the broadcast spawning Porites appear to be distinguished from those of brooding Porites by the pattern of septal development and by the small size at settlement. The number of taxa that could be distinguished was highest when juveniles were between 4 and 8 wk old. After this time, variation in the growth rates of individuals and thickening of the skeleton obscured differences between the taxa

Coral spawning predicted by rapid seasonal rise in ocean temperature

Coral spawning times have been linked to multiple environmental factors; however, to what extent these factors act as generalized cues across multiple species and large spatial scales is unknown. We used a unique dataset of coral spawning from 34 reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans to test if month of spawning and peak spawning month in assemblages of Acropora spp. can be predicted by sea surface temperature (SST), photosynthetically available radiation, wind speed, current speed, rainfall or sunset time. Contrary to the classic view that high mean SST initiates coral spawning, we found rapid increases in SST to be the best predictor in both cases (month of spawning: R2 = 0.73, peak: R2 = 0.62). Our findings suggest that a rapid increase in SST provides the dominant proximate cue for coral mass spawning over large geographical scales. We hypothesize that coral spawning is ultimately timed to ensure optimal fertilization success

An Indo-Pacific coral spawning database

The authors would like to thank the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies for funding the Coral Spawning Workshop in Singapore in 2017 where the database was initially developed.The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe