Reef-Building Coral Holobionts under Environmental Stressors: Responses and Adaptation

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Background

Coral reef ecosystems, which are referred as ‘rainforests’ of the ocean, provide numerous ecosystem services, including nourishing human population, shoreline protection, tourism, biodiversity maintenance, etc. Reef framework building corals (hermatypic corals) are symbiotic cnidarians that harbor diverse microorganisms (the zooxanthellae, bacteria, fungi, and virus), which is termed microbiome, and the union between coral host and microbiome is also called coral holobiont. In this symbiosis, algal endosymbionts (family Symbiodiniaceae) translocated over 90% of their photosynthetic products (glucose, amino acids, and glycerol) to the coral host which in turn provides the symbionts with inorganic carbon and nitrogen. Paling and bleaching of coral tissue due to the loss of endosymbionts triggered by climate change-related ocean warming and anthropogenic activities, generally lead to subsequent mortality following prolonged exposure. It has been demonstrated that over 50% of the world’s coral reefs have been lost during the past 2 decades under the combined influence of climate change and human activities. Such rapid coral loss and the degradation of coral reef have severely impaired the ecological goods and ecosystem services.

Corals are sensitive to the environmental changes, particularly the ongoing ocean warming and acidification, as well as low oxygen, and eutrophication. The evolutionary adaptation of reef corals with a long life cycle are considered not enough to keep pace with the current rates of climate change, whereas recent evidence showed that corals could rapidly acclimate to new environments through acclimatization. Yet, the extent to which coral holobiont can acclimate to environmental stress is currently not well known. Also, there is a growing appreciation for the importance of Symbiodiniaceae and bacteria in shaping the physiology and acclimatization of coral holobionts under novel and changing environments.

However, the relationships between the environment, coral physiology and microbial community composition are only beginning to be understood, particularly in the context of a changing climate. Understanding the connections between corals and their microbial communities is of increasing importance as these relationships may have fundamental roles in the health, acclimatization, and adaptive potential of coral holobionts, with major implications for the persistence of coral reefs in the face of a changing climate. Such knowledge also provides insights into how we can manipulate the adaptive responses of coral holobiont to more extreme conditions in order to facilitate their adaptation.

There are two main objectives for the Research Topic: 1) to address the capacity of coral holobionts to acclimate and adapt to elevated temperature, reduced pH and chronic local environmental stress, and how changing environmental conditions affect the symbiosis and the relationship between different microbiome partners within coral holobiont; 2) to investigate the associations of coral host, endosymbionts, microbes across large geological scales and contrasting environments and unravel the specific roles of microbiome in acclimation and adaptation of coral holobiont.

We welcome Original Research Articles, Reviews, Technology, Data Reports and Perspectives that explore the following themes or other closely related topics:
• Physiology and mechanisms of the symbiosis establishment, maintenance, and dysbiosis within the symbiosis.
• Adaptive responses of coral holobionts to environmental stress.
• The dynamics and functions of microbiome within coral holobionts under contrasting environments and climate change related stressors.

Keywords: Reef-building coral, coral holobiont, endosymbiont, microbiome, climate change

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