Yeung, Chung Wing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-156). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract (English) --- p.iii / Abstract (Chinese) --- p.vi / Contents --- p.vii / List of Tables --- p.xii / List of Figures --- p.xii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Ecological and economic importance of coral reef habitats --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- D egradation of coral reefs --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Natural recovery --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Restoration of disturbed reefs --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2.2.1 --- Whole colony transplantation --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.2.2 --- Fragment transplantation --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2.2.3 --- Coral nursery --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Studies on octocorals --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Functional ecology of octocorals --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Biodiversity of octocorals in Hong Kong --- p.9 / Chapter 1.3.3 --- Threats on octocorals in Hong Kong --- p.10 / Chapter 1.4 --- The focus and significance of the present study --- p.12 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- "Lobophytum sarcophytoides, the study organism" --- p.14 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- Objectives --- p.15 / Chapter 1.5 --- Thesis Outline --- p.16 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Seasonal Variation and Size-dependent Eco-physiological Performances of the Soft Coral Lobophytum sarcophytoides / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Damage recovery --- p.20 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.21 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Reproductive biology --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Growth rate --- p.23 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Significance and objectives --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2 --- Study Sites --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Lan Guo Shui (LGS) --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Tolo Harbour (MSL) --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3 --- Methodologies --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Sample collection --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Treatment of samples --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Health condition --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Damage recovery --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Growth rate --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.6 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.7 --- Reproductive biology --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.8 --- Statistical Analysis --- p.31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Results --- p.32 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Acclimation of transplanted corals --- p.32 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Health condition --- p.33 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Growth rate --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.38 / Chapter 2.4.5 --- Damage recovery --- p.39 / Chapter 2.4.6 --- Reproductive biology --- p.40 / Chapter 2.5 --- Discussion --- p.41 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Diurnal expansion and contraction of colonies --- p.41 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Size fluctuation of the colonies --- p.42 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Possible factors for the high initial mortality of corals --- p.43 / Chapter 2.5.4 --- Causes of bleaching and the harmful effects --- p.44 / Chapter 2.5.5 --- Energy allocation between reproduction and growth --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5.6 --- Quick healing of cut fragments and its ecological implication --- p.48 / Chapter 2.5.7 --- Choice of suitable fragment size for nursery use --- p.49 / Chapter 2.5.8 --- Suitable season for conducting the experiment --- p.50 / Chapter 2.6 --- Summary --- p.51 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Effects of Temperature on the Health Condition and Photosytnthetic Activity of the Soft Coral Lobophytum sarcophytoides / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.69 / Chapter 3.2 --- Methodologies --- p.73 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Sample collection --- p.73 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Experimental set-up of aquaria for growing corals --- p.73 / Chapter 3.2.2.1 --- Temperature experiment I --- p.74 / Chapter 3.2.2.2 --- Temperature experiment II --- p.74 / Chapter 3.2.2.3 --- Temperature experiment III --- p.76 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Health condition --- p.76 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.77 / Chapter 3.2.5 --- Statistical analysis --- p.78 / Chapter 3.3 --- Results --- p.79 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Temperature experiment I --- p.79 / Chapter 3.3.1.1 --- Health condition --- p.79 / Chapter 3.3.1.2 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.80 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Temperature experiment IIA --- p.81 / Chapter 3.3.2.1 --- Health condition --- p.81 / Chapter 3.3.2.2 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.83 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Temperature experiment IIB --- p.84 / Chapter 3.3.3.1 --- Health condition --- p.84 / Chapter 3.3.3.2 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.85 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Temperature experiment III --- p.85 / Chapter 3.3.4.1 --- Health condition --- p.85 / Chapter 3.3.4.2 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.86 / Chapter 3.4 --- Discussion --- p.87 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- The effect of acclimation --- p.87 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Temperature tolerance range of L. sarcophytoides --- p.90 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Indicators of coral health --- p.92 / Chapter 3.4.3.1 --- Photosynthetic activity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.4.3.2 --- Colony contraction --- p.94 / Chapter 3.4.3.3 --- Bleaching --- p.95 / Chapter 3.4.3.4 --- Algal overgrowth --- p.97 / Chapter 3.4.3.5 --- Attachment of transplanted corals --- p.99 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.100 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Reproductive Biology of Lobophytum sarcophytoides / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.114 / Chapter 4.2 --- Methodologies --- p.117 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Study site --- p.117 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Sample collection and treatments --- p.117 / Chapter 4.3 --- Results --- p.119 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Gametogenic development: Size changes --- p.119 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Gametogenic development: Developmental stages --- p.120 / Chapter 4.3.2.1 --- Oogenesis --- p.120 / Chapter 4.3.2.2 --- Spermatogenesis --- p.121 / Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion --- p.122 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Unusual oogenic development pattern in L sarcophytoides --- p.122 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Possible effect of lack of a temperature cue on gametogenic development --- p.123 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Alternative explanation: Energy allocation --- p.126 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.128 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Summary and Perspectives --- p.137 / References --- p.143

Coral reef declines, particularly in coastal zones, have been linked to thermal stress and anthropogenic impacts on water quality. St. Lucie Reef near Stuart, Florida receives increased estuarine efflux as a result of watershed changes and management policies that have substantially altered historic, natural flows. This research used ambient and elevated temperatures (25°C and 30°C, respectively), and offshore versus St. Lucie Estuarine discharge water to investigate the individual and interactive effects of thermal and water quality stress on Montastraea cavernosa, a dominant scleractinian coral species at St. Lucie Reef. These goals were accomplished using ex-situ, factorial, experimental design that was supplemented with existing in-situ monitoring on St. Lucie Reef. Zooxanthellae density and chlorophyll content were evaluated to determine effects on the corals and their symbionts. Zooxanthellae populations were significantly affected by thermal stress. Significant interactions between temperature and water treatment were observed, suggesting that the impacts of discharge water may be supplanted when corals are exposed to thermal stress. In a supplement to the experiment, M. cavernosa colonies transplanted from Palm Beach to St. Lucie Reef demonstrated resilience despite exposure to more variable environmental conditions. Collaborative partnerships with multiple state agencies and local government offices facilitated data sharing to inform decision making for South Florida’s resource management strategies. Creating effective resource management is crucial for the conservation of coastal ecosystems impacted by land-based sources of pollution both locally and globally. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003.

The coral holobiont contains diverse communities of bacteria that play a role in the maintenance of coral ecosystems, however little is known about the structure and conservation of the host-bacterial relationship. Declines in coral ecosystems have been partly attributed to outbreaks of disease in tropical and sub-tropical regions, which have been linked to increasing temperatures. Bacteria are thought to play a role in some of these diseases, however little is understood about the mechanisms behind disease progression or the series of events involved in the shifts of coral-associated bacteria from conserved, potentially beneficial communities to those including potential pathogens. Investigations into a cold-water gorgonian coral, Eunicella verrucosa, have shown similar bacterial communities to those present in tropical and sub-tropical regions, with high proportions of Spongiobacter and Endozoicomonas genera, suggesting an important role for these associates in the coral holobiont irrespective of location or the presence of zooxanthellae. A shift in bacterial community with disease was also shown, with suggestions that sedimentation and depth may affect the extent of bacterial community alteration. With the increasing knowledge that bacteria exhibit elaborate systems of intercellular communication (quorum sensing; QS) to allow a population response and to control the expression of genes for pathogenesis, antibiotic production and biofilm formation, the present study showed the presence, stability and species-specific nature of N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs; most prevalent type of QS) in situ in a number of coral species. This finding and a high proportion of coral-associated bacteria found producing AHLs suggests an important role for QS in the coral holobiont. Further, AHL signals have been shown to break down in Stylophora pistillata kept at 30 °C, which coincided with a drop in bacterial numbers and a changing bacterial community which included more quorum quenching (QQ; AHL-degrading) bacteria. Temperature was shown to affect AHL-QS in a strain-dependent manner in E. verrucosa isolates, suggesting that the decline seen in S. pistillata is not primarily an effect of temperature. Further experiments with three species of soft coral (Sinularia sp., Discosoma sp. and a gorgonian) showed no such decline in AHLs at 30 °C and instead show a coral-specific response to temperature, including the ability of coral extracts to inhibit putative pathogens. A decline in the ability of crude coral extract to degrade AHLs in the Discosoma sp. and the high QQ activity in crude extract from all three species suggests a role for QQ in the coral holobiont, confirmed by the high percentage of QQ found in coral-associated bacterial isolates; again suggesting a role in the maintenance of bacterial communities. Further investigations attempted to link QS and QQ to antagonism and susceptibility in coral associated bacteria; however these results were inconclusive. The thesis concludes that priority should be given to further research of QS and QQ in the coral holobiont, which will reveal important knowledge that may lead to future mitigation of some forms of coral disease.

Missing leaves: 170. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-203). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xvi, 203 leaves, bound ill. (chiefly col.), col. maps 29 cm

Coral reef environments have been degrading steadily over the last few decades. It is generally accepted now that coral reefs are one of the first marine ecosystems to show measurable perturbations driven by global warming. Some of theses perturbations are consequence of extreme stochastic disturbances like hurricanes or extreme thermal anomalies and therefore, can be easily identified using broad indicators like coral cover. These indicators are easy to measure and provide a general description of the system in question. The detection and interpretation of more subtle perturbation in coral communities is more complicated, both logistically and conceptually. However, detecting chronic perturbations at an early stage can increase significantly the success of early mitigating management strategies. This thesis focuses on the development and application of highly sensitive indicators that can detect subtle perturbations in coral communities. It also studies the ecological interpretation of mild perturbations and their effect on the future structure of coral reef environments. The mild thermal disturbance experienced by the Heron Island reef in the south of the Great Barrier Reef during the 2005-2006 summer, and an environmental gradient along the central coast of Venezuela (south Caribbean Sea), were used as models to test the sensitivity of coral reefs to mild disturbances at different organisation levels (organism, population, and community). At the organismal level my results showed that the intensity of bleaching that a colony shows during a mild thermal disturbance is affected by the morphology of the colony as well as the substrates surrounding the colony. Colonies surrounded by sand bleached more than colonies surrounded by dead coral or rubble. I propose that reef specific information on the relative cover of sand, rubble, and dead coral can improve the fine scale accuracy of bleaching predicting models. Studying the same mild thermal disturbance at Heron Island, I showed how demographic parameters of some populations are more sensitive to mild thermal disturbances than coral cover (the most widely used response variable in coral monitoring programs around the world). Furthermore, my results suggest that the response of coral populations to mild thermal disturbance is different in nature and intensity to the respond observed during extreme thermal disturbances. Some taxa like Stylophora pistillata, are highly sensitive to extreme thermal disturbances, and tend to be the first to die under these conditions. In contrast, this taxon was extremely tolerant to the mild thermal disturbance of early 2006 in comparison to other taxa identified previously as more tolerant than S. pistillata. This difference in the response of coral environments to milder more common disturbances can have great influence in the trajectory that coral reefs follow in a rapidly changing world. Finally at a community level, I demonstrated how the power to detect the effect of environmental conditions on coral environments is drastically increased when the coral host-endosymbiotic algae relationship is interpreted holistically. The percentage of the variability of the community structure that can be explained by environmental variables in the central coast of Venezuela is doubled when the unit of selection considered is the holobiont instead of the coral host or the endosymbiont independently. This approach can be crucial for the detection of subtle changes in coral communities as the frequency and intensity of disturbances increase rapidly. The increase in detection power provided by the different approaches developed in this project can both improve our understanding of the structuring role of mild disturbances in coral communities as well as help identify the effect of disturbances in an early stage before the perturbation reaches catastrophic proportions. This early identification of perturbations can be used for the development of adaptive management strategies that can increase the resistance and resilience of coral reefs in the future.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-170). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-258). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2004. / Typescript (photocopy). Appendices : leaves 141-146. Bibliography : leaves 147-169. Also available in an electronic version via the Internet.