Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag (Germany)
Résumé : International audience
Mass bleaching events resulting in coral mortality are among the greatest threats to coral reefs, and are projected to increase in frequency and intensity with global warming. Achieving a better understanding of the consistency of the response of coral assemblages to thermal stress, both spatially and temporally, is essential to determine which reefs are more able to tolerate climate change. We compared variations in spatial and taxonomic patterns between two bleaching events at the scale of an island (Moorea Island, French Polynesia). Despite similar thermal stress and light conditions, bleaching intensity was significantly lower in 2007 (approximately 37 % of colonies showed signs of bleaching) than in 2002, when 55 % of the colonies bleached. Variations in the spatial patterns of bleaching intensity were consistent between the two events. Among nine sampling stations at three locations and three depths, the stations at which the bleaching response was lowest in 2002 were those that showed the lowest levels of bleaching in 2007. The taxonomic patterns of susceptibility to bleaching were also consistent between the two events. These findings have important implications for conservation because they indicate that corals are capable of acclimatization and/or adaptation and that, even at small spatial scales, some areas are consistently more susceptible to bleaching than others.
ISSN: 0167-6369

hal-00905944
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00905944
DOI : 10.1007/s10661-012-2923-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
This study provides a baseline describing natural small scale variability of Symbiodinium density in the sentinel coral Acropora globiceps during the summer, under non-bleaching conditions. Spatial scales investigated range from the colony scale (1-10 cm, i.e. among branches of the same colony) to the reef scale (1-10 km, i.e. among stations distributed over several locations and depths), at Moorea Island, French Polynesia. The coral-Symbiodinium symbiosis is a key process in scleractinian coral physiology, and Symbiodinium density provides an easy-to-measure and inexpensive biomarker of this symbiosis health. Spatial variability of three major environmental factors: light intensity, sedimentation and water motion was also assessed to evaluate their potential link with Symbiodinium density. Density of Symbiodinium did not significantly differ within colonies or among colonies within a station. However, a marked depth gradient was observed, showing increasing density with increasing depth and decreasing light intensity. These observations provide an interesting reference for forthcoming comparisons with disturbed conditions, such as bleaching events.
ISSN: 0025-3154

hal-00905942
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00905942
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00905942/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00905942/file/Ladriereetal2014.pdf
DOI : 10.1017/S0025315413001252

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Outbreaks of the corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci (COTS) represent one of the greatest disturbances to coral reef ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific, affecting not only coral reefs but also the coastal communities which rely on their resources. While injection approaches are increasingly used in an attempt to control COTS densities, most of them display severe drawbacks including logistical challenges, high residual environmental impacts or low cost-effectiveness. We tested a new alternative control method based upon acidic injections of cheap, 100% natural products. We investigated the lethal doses, intra-and inter-specific disease transmission and immune responses of COTS when injected with fresh lime juice (extracted from local Citrus arantifolia) and white spirit vinegar. High COTS mortality was achieved with small volumes: 10–20 ml per seastar induced death in 89%/ 97% of injected specimens after an average 34.3 h/29.8 h for lime juice and vinegar respectively. Highest efficiency was reached for both solutions with double shots of (2 × 10 ml) in two different areas on the body: 100% mortality occurred within 12–24 h, which is similar or faster compared with other current injection methods. Multiple immune measures suggested that death was very likely caused by pH stress from the acidic solutions rather than a bacterial infection. Contagion to either conspecifics or a variety of other reef species was not observed, even at COTS densities 15 times higher than the highest naturally reported. 10 to 20 l lime juice/vinegar could kill up to a thousand COTS at a cost of less than 0.05 USD per specimen; no permits or special handling procedures are required. We conclude that injections of lime juice and vinegar offer great advantages when compared to current best practises and constitute a cheap and natural option for all reefs affected by COTS.
ISSN: 1932-6203

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01208272
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01208272
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01208272/document
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01208272/file/journal.pone.0137605.pdf
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0137605

Éditeur(s) : Amer Soc Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc
Résumé : Scleractinian corals are the most basal eumetazoan taxon and provide the biological and physical framework for coral reefs, which are among the most diverse of all ecosystems. Over the past three decades and coincident with climate change, these phototrophic symbiotic organisms have been subject to increasingly frequent and severe diseases, which are now geographically widespread and a major threat to these ecosystems. Although coral immunity has been the subject of increasing study, the available information remains fragmentary, especially with respect to coral antimicrobial responses. In this study, we characterized damicornin from Pocillopora damicornis, the first scleractinian antimicrobial peptide (AMP) to be reported. We found that its precursor has a segmented organization comprising a signal peptide, an acidic proregion, and the C-terminal AMP. The 40-residue AMP is cationic, C-terminally amidated, and characterized by the presence of six cysteine molecules joined by three intramolecular disulfide bridges. Its cysteine array is common to another AMP and toxins from cnidarians; this suggests a common ancestor, as has been proposed for AMPs and toxins from arthropods. Damicornin was active in vitro against Gram-positive bacteria and the fungus Fusarium oxysporum. Damicornin expression was studied using a combination of immunohistochemistry, reverse phase HPLC, and quantitative RT-PCR. Our data show that damicornin is constitutively transcribed in ectodermal granular cells, where it is stored, and further released in response to nonpathogenic immune challenge. Damicornin gene expression was repressed by the coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus. This is the first evidence of AMP gene repression in a host-Vibrio interaction.
Journal Of Biological Chemistry (0021-9258) (Amer Soc Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc), 2011-06 , Vol. 286 , N. 25 , P. 22688-22698

Droits : 2011 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00039/14996/12433.pdf
DOI:10.1074/jbc.M110.216358
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00039/14996/

Éditeur(s) : Public Library Science
Résumé : Global change and its associated temperature increase has directly or indirectly changed the distributions of hosts and pathogens, and has affected host immunity, pathogen virulence and growth rates. This has resulted in increased disease in natural plant and animal populations worldwide, including scleractinian corals. While the effects of temperature increase on immunity and pathogen virulence have been clearly identified, their interaction, synergy and relative weight during pathogenesis remain poorly documented. We investigated these phenomena in the interaction between the coral Pocillopora damicornis and the bacterium Vibrio coralliilyticus, for which the infection process is temperature-dependent. We developed an experimental model that enabled unraveling the effects of thermal stress, and virulence vs. non-virulence of the bacterium. The physiological impacts of various treatments were quantified at the transcriptome level using a combination of RNA sequencing and targeted approaches. The results showed that thermal stress triggered a general weakening of the coral, making it more prone to infection, non-virulent bacterium induced an 'efficient' immune response, whereas virulent bacterium caused immuno-suppression in its host.
Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2014-09 , Vol. 9 , N. 9 , P. 1-15

Droits : This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00221/33265/31738.pdf
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0107672
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00221/33265/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Ecological signs of Earth's biosphere forewarn an alarming trajectory towards a global mass-extinction. Assessing species performance and susceptibilities to decline is essential to comprehend and reverse this trend. Yet it is challenging, given difficulties associated with quantifying individual and population processes that are variable across time, space, and life-stages. We describe a new approach to estimating and comparing species performances that combines empirical data, a novel theoretical consideration of population dynamics, and modern statistics. Our approach allows for a more realistic continuous representation of individual performances along development stages while taking into account non-linearity, and natural variability as captured by spatio-temporally replicated observations. We illustrate its application in a coral meta-assemblage composed of populations of the three major reef-building taxa Acropora, Pocillopora, Porites. Using a unique set of highly replicated observations of individual coral dynamics under various environmental conditions, we show how taxa differ in their investment in recruitment and size-specific aptitude for growth and survival, notably through different use of clonal shrinkage, fragmentation, fission, and fusion processes. Our results reveal contrasting life-history trade-offs among taxa which, along with differing patterns of density-dependent recruitment, modulate species responses to decline. These differences in coral life history traits reflect opposing life-strategies, imply regulation at differing life-stages, and explain divergence in species trajectories. Our findings indicate a high potential for resilience in Pocillopora and Porites populations, thanks respectively to a sustained recruitment that promotes demographic elasticity through replacement of individuals, and a steady resistance to mortality which confers persistence through lingering of individuals. Resilience in Acropora appears more arbitrary, given high susceptibility to perturbations and dependency of recruitment on presence of established local populations. We identify management actions that can complement Acropora's life history and benefit recovery of its populations following mortality events. Our regression-modelling approach to quantifying and comparing species performances in different population processes is applicable to all taxa, as illustrated even those with complex clonal life histories, and can be implemented at wide spatio-temporal and taxonomic coverage. It can promote more accurate representation of species dynamics in both descriptive and predictive modelling approaches. The semi-parametric contrast curve method we develop facilitates comparing response variables along continuous explicative metrics while accounting for multiple sources of complexity in empirical data. It should widely benefit investigations in ecology and quantitative science.
ISSN: 1476-945X

hal-01212337
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01212337
DOI : 10.1016/j.ecocom.2015.07.003

Éditeur(s) : Springer
Résumé : Clonality and genetic structure of the coral Pocillopora damicornis sensu lato were assessed using five microsatellites in 12 populations from four islands of the Society Archipelago (French Polynesia) sampled in June 2008. The 427 analysed specimens fell into 132 multilocus genotypes (MLGs), suggesting that asexual reproduction plays an important role in the maintenance of these populations. A haploweb analysis of ITS2 sequences of each MLG was consistent with all of them being conspecific. Genetic differentiation was detected both between and within islands, but when a single sample per MLG was included in the analyses, the populations turned out to be nearly panmictic. These observations provide further evidence of the marked variability in reproductive strategies and genetic structure of P. damicornis throughout its geographic range; comparison with results previously obtained for the congeneric species Pocillopora meandrina underlines the importance of life history traits in shaping the genetic structure of coral populations
Marine Biology (0025-3162) (Springer), 2014-03 , Vol. 161 , N. 3 , P. 531-541

Droits : Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00171/28209/26518.pdf
DOI:10.1007/s00227-013-2355-9
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00171/28209/