Coral mass spawning predicted by rapid seasonal rise in ocean temperature

Authors

Sally A. Keith, University of Copenhagen; James Cook University
Jeffrey A. Maynard, University of Miami
Alasdair J. Edwards, Newcastle University
James R. Guest, SECORE
Andrew G. Bauman, National University of SingaporeFollow
Ruben van Hooidonk, University of Miami, NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
Scott F. Heron, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; James Cook University - Townsville, Australia
Michael L. Berumen, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Jessica Bouwmeester, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Srisakul Piromvaragorn, Prince of Songkla University
Carsten Rahbek, University of Copenhagen - Denmark; Imperial College London - United Kingdom
Andrew H. Baird, James Cook University

ORCID

0000-0001-9260-2153

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Proceedings of the Royal Society B

ISSN

0962-8452

Publication Date

5-11-2016

Keywords

Phenology, Reproduction, Biogeography, Macroecology, Acropora, Indo-Pacific

Abstract

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.

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2016.0011

Volume

283

Issue

20160011

Comments

Data accessibility

The datasets supporting this article have been uploaded as part of the electronic supplementary material, table S1.

Funding

We are grateful for funding support from VILLUM FONDEN (S.A.K., grant no. 10114), the Danish National Research Foundation for support to the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (S.A.K., C.R., grant no. DNRF96), the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (A.G.B., S.A.K.), the European Research Commission Marie Curie Actions programme (J.A.M.), the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (M.L.B.) and NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (S.F.H. and R.v.H.).

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Sally A. Keith, Jeffrey A. Maynard, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, Ruben van Hooidonk, Scott F. Heron, Michael L. Berumen, Jessica Bouwmeester, Srisakul Piromvaragorn, Carsten Rahbek, and Andrew H. Baird. 2016. Coral mass spawning predicted by rapid seasonal rise in ocean temperature .Proceedings of the Royal Society B , (20160011) . https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1298.