No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

University of Macau / Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences

The University of Iowa Paleontology Repository maintains an extensive collection of Caribbean coral specimens. This study includes 285 specimens, of which approximately 75 are thin-sections of three previously identified Oligocene genera including: Montastraea Blainville, 1830 (=Orbicella Dana 1846), Antiguastrea Vaughan, 1919, and Agathiphyllia Reuss, 1864 (=Cyathomorpha Reuss, 1868). This study includes: photography of colony surfaces and thin-sections of representative specimens of each species, and the identification of the three Oligocene genera Montastraea, Antiguastrea, and Agathiphyllia to the species level. This study compared the collections with the agathiphyllid stratigraphic ranges in the Paleobiology Database, curated these specimens, and then entered the information into the database, SpecifyTM. These continued efforts aid in better understanding diagnostic morphologic characters of three genera: Antiguastrea, Agathiphyllia, and Montastraea. Two of the genera, Antiguastrea and Agathiphyllia, are extinct. Because the differences in morphology are subtle and not very well understood, previous biodiversity studies using the colony surface for correct species identification have been difficult and often inaccurate. Montastraea is further complicated by recent research that suggests it is polyphyletic and contains multiple species complexes, based on the combined use and creation of more morphological characters and on molecular phylogenetics. Additionally, this study assists with the understanding of the biodiversity of these Oligocene coral genera in the Caribbean region prior to the Plio-Pleistocene extinction event, and the evolutionary history of coral diversity in this region. Though there was an extinction event across the Caribbean, the locality species richness, using Fisher's α and Shannon's H, showed no significant differences between the Late Oligocene formations and the Early Miocene formations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1984. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [129]-141.

The island continent of Madagascar spans nearly 13.5o of latitude in the SW Indian Ocean. Its coastline includes a number of well developed coral reefs, ranging from tropical Nosy Bé (NW Madagascar, 12oS) and Vohemar (Volhmarina, NE Madagascar, 13oS) to subtropical Tuléar (Toliara , SW Madagascar, 23.5oS), as well as temperate coral communities at Fort Dauphin (Tolagnaro, SE Madagascar, 25oS). Given the range of environmental conditions experienced by reef corals at these different sites, Madagascar represents an ideal location to study the distribution of algal symbionts (Symbiodinium spp.) in these coral hosts. To investigate the effect of latitudinal gradients in temperature on Symbiodinium distributions, 220 samples from 27 coral genera in 12 families were collected from these 4 sites in September 2001. To test the stability of these distributions over time, a further 337 samples were collected from the Nosy Bé and Tuléar regions in March 2007 and November 2009. Symbiodinium communities were screened using Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) to analyze the internal transcribed spacer-2 (ITS-2) region of Symbiodinium ribosomal DNA, with individual symbiont taxa identified by sequencing individual DGGE bands. Significant differences were found in the Symbiodinium cladal composition of reef corals at different sites, with corals at northern sites containing a higher relative frequency of Symbiodinium in clade D (occurring as mixed clade C+D communities) than southern sampling sites. Nominal logistic analysis of the distribution of symbionts found a significant effect of coral taxa and site, but not of sea surface temperature metrics (environmental data obtained from NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch satellite-derived data) in determining the distribution of different symbionts. Rarefaction analysis indicated there were no differences in Symbiodinium richness (at either the clade or the subtype level) between different sites, or between different sampling intervals. Differences existed in the subcladal composition of dominant ITS-2 types found in congeners at different latitudes, with corals in the genus Acropora being dominated by Symbiodinium C3 (specifically subtype C3z) in northern sites, and C1 in southern sites. Symbiont communities changed between 2001 and 2007/2009, with increases in mixed Symbiodinium C+D assemblages occurring at southern sites that had experienced temperature stress during the intervening period. Decreases in mixed Symbiodinium communities occurred at northern sites, which were not as severely affected by thermal stress. It is suggested that the latitudinal gradients in Symbiodinium found in Madagascar, and the environmental controls on community structure described here, provide important insight into how coral species in this understudied area can adapt or acclimatize to changing environmental conditions through shifts in the composition of their symbiont communities. This will help improve our understanding of how projected climate change in the SW Indian Ocean will affect survival trajectories for coral reefs in the region.

Three brooding corals, Seriatopora hystrix, Stylophora pistillata, and Pocillopora damicornis in Nanwan Bay, southern Taiwan, revealed a diel rhythm of larval release. Planulation by S. hystrix and S. pistillata was highly synchronized with one peak of planula release occurring close to sunrise. Planulae of P. damicornis were released throughout the day with two peaks occurred in the early morning and at night. We maintain corals in laboratory with varied light-dark cycle and temperature to determine the mechanism of their release rhythm. S. hystrix did not release larvae under constant light and constant dark, thus the release of larvae in S. hystrix is not controlled by an endogenous rhythm. Peak of larval release occurs after 23hrs of light cue and under the dark. Temperature treatments, in 1¢J intervals from 23.5-28.5¢J, did not change the timing of larval release. We infer that the diel rhythm of larval release of S. hystrix controlled by sunrise. S. pistillata did not release larvae under constant light and constant dark. The larval release pattern of S. pistillata is similar to S. hystrix. Thus, we infer that sunrise may be the cues for the diel rhythm of larval release of S. pistillata. P. damicornis releases larvae under constant light and constant dark, and exhibit a rhythm of larval release with 37 h periodicity under constant dark. The regulation of its larval release is complex. These results suggest that the interspecific mechanism controlling diel rhythm of larval release may be different.