Coral mass spawning predicted by rapid seasonal rise in ocean temperature

Sally A. Keith 1, 2 Jeffrey A. Maynard 3, 4, 5, 6 Alasdair J. Edwards 7 James R. Guest 8 Andrew G. Bauman 9 Ruben Van Hooidonk 10, 11 Scott F. Heron 12, 13 Michael L. Berumen 14 Jessica Bouwmeester 14, 15, 16 Srisakul Piromvaragorn 17 Carsten Rahbek 18, 2 Andrew H. Baird 1
1 CoralCoE - ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
2 Center for Macroecology
3 LabEX CORAIL - Laboratoire d'Excellence CORAIL
4 CRIOBE - Centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l'environnement
5 SymbioSeas
6 MARE - Marine Applied Research & Exploration
7 School of Biology
8 SECORE International
9 EMEL - Experimental Marine Ecology Laboratory
10 Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies
11 AOML - NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
12 Coral Reef Watch
STAR - NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research
13 Marine Geophysical Laboratory
14 RSRC - Red Sea Research Centre
15 Department of Geology
16 Carl R. Woese Institute of Genomic Biology
17 Center of Excellence for Biodiversity of Peninsular Thailand
18 Imperial College London
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.
Keywords : phenology reproduction biogeography macroecology Acropora Indo-Pacific
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Journal articles
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Contributor : Olivier Savoyat <>
Submitted on : Thursday, June 2, 2016 - 3:39:47 PM
Last modification on : Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - 7:10:55 AM

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Sally A. Keith, Jeffrey A. Maynard, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, et al.. Coral mass spawning predicted by rapid seasonal rise in ocean temperature. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Royal Society, The, 2016, 283 (1830), ⟨10.1098/rspb.2016.0011 ⟩. ⟨hal-01325704⟩

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