Testing the resilience of coral microbial networks to disturbance


SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2021 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING (VAM)
January 3 – Febuary 28, 2021

Meeting Abstract


32-8  Sat Jan 2  Testing the resilience of coral microbial networks to disturbance Kriefall, NG*; Rippe, JP; Castillo, KD; Davies, SW; Boston University; UT Austin; UNC Chapel Hill; Boston University nicfall@bu.edu

Microorganisms can provide essential services for their host organisms, and this is especially true for communities of algal symbionts and bacteria hosted by tropical corals. These microbes can interact with the host and with each other through nutrient and metabolic byproduct exchange and can form complex co-occurrence networks, with important implications for coral resilience. It is well-established that these symbiosis networks are easily perturbed by changes in temperature, however the influence of multi-variable storm disturbance events on the resilience of these microbial networks remains largely unexplored. Here we show that key metrics of bacterial networks hosted by the coral Siderastrea siderea were disrupted by the passage of a category 5 hurricane (Irma), but showed evidence of recovery after one year. Namely, the composition of bacterial families most central to these networks was more similar before and one year after the disturbance when compared to immediately after disturbance. Similarly, network cohesion (measure of connectedness) was lowest immediately following disturbance when compared to before and after the storm. These same network analyses are being explored in coral-associated algal symbiont communities and network resilience across three inshore-offshore transects will be contrasted, as inshore corals in the Florida Keys have previously exhibited increased resistance to environmental stressors relative to their offshore counterparts. These initial results indicate that storm disturbances substantially impact coral-associated bacterial networks, which may disrupt microbial functions provided to their hosts. This study explores the role microbial partners play in coral resilience in the face of severe storm disturbance events, which are projected to intensify over the coming century.

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