title: The northern limit of corals of the genus Acropora in temperate zones is determined by their resilience to cold bleaching.
abstract: The distribution of corals in Japan covers a wide range of latitudes, encompassing tropical to temperate zones. However, coral communities in temperate zones contain only a small subset of species. Among the parameters that determine the distribution of corals, temperature plays an important role. We tested the resilience to cold stress of three coral species belonging to the genus Acropora in incubation experiments. Acropora pruinosa, which is the northernmost of the three species, bleached at 13 °C, but recovered once temperatures were increased. The two other species, A. hyacinthus and A. solitaryensis, which has a more southerly range than A. pruinosa, died rapidly after bleaching at 13 °C. The physiological effects of cold bleaching on the corals included decreased rates of photosynthesis, respiration, and calcification, similar to the physiological effects observed with bleaching due to high temperature stress. Contrasting hot bleaching, no increases in antioxidant enzyme activities were observed, suggesting that reactive oxygen species play a less important role in bleaching under cold stress. These results confirmed the importance of resilience to cold stress in determining the distribution and northern limits of coral species, as cold events causing coral bleaching and high mortality occur regularly in temperate zones.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.affiliation: Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agostini
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan.|Research Institute of Green Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Beatriz Estela
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Casareto
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan.|Center for Information Biology, National Institute of Genetics, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Ikuko
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yuyama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D003080:Cold Temperature; D017753:Ecosystem; D007564:Japan; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase