{"id":146018,"date":"2021-08-10T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T18:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=146018"},"modified":"2021-09-01T13:49:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T23:49:56","slug":"coral-killer-palmyra-atoll-reef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/08\/10\/coral-killer-palmyra-atoll-reef\/","title":{"rendered":"Insidious coral killer invading Palmyra Atoll reef"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"palmyra
A map of Palmyra Atoll showing where the corallimorphs were collected. (Photo credit: Kaitlyn Jacobs)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reefs at Palmyra Atoll, a small outlying atoll in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, have been undergoing a shift from stony corals to systems dominated by corallimorphs, marine invertebrates that share traits with both anemones and hard corals. A published study<\/a> in Coral Reefs<\/em> led by University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa marine biology researchers discovered that although the invading corallimorph is the same species that has been there for decades, its appearance recently changed, and it became much more insidious.<\/p>\n

Phase shifts such as this are being seen in many marine environments globally—whether due to local pollution, global climate change or natural environmental variation. Researchers from ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a> (SOEST<\/abbr>) wanted to determine if a new species of corallimorph was responsible for the takeover in Palmyra.<\/p>\n

\"corallimorphs\"
Images of corallimorphs around Palmyra.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“These phase shifts are negative to our overall biodiversity,” said Kaitlyn Jacobs<\/strong>, lead author of the study and graduate student at the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/a> in SOEST<\/abbr>. “In the last decade, Palmyra\u2019s nearshore reefs have been invaded by corallimorph colonies that can rapidly monopolize the seafloor and reach 100% cover in some areas.”<\/p>\n

Outcompeting surrounding corals<\/h2>\n

Jacobs and her team used DNA<\/abbr> data to compare the mitochondrial genomes of four corallimorph individuals collected from Palmyra Atoll. They discovered that the corallimorph that was outcompeting surrounding corals is not a new species but rather is most closely related to a species from Okinawa, Japan.<\/p>\n

The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was created in 2001 and has been protected ever since. The atoll has been characterized as a nearly pristine coral reef ecosystem—supporting a highly productive ecosystem and high levels of coral cover.<\/p>\n

Because of their adaptability, corallimorphs are excellent competitors. In addition to being able to kill corals directly, they can quickly move into disturbed areas and out-compete surrounding organisms, creating a sort of blanket on the reef.<\/p>\n

“There is concern among scientists and conservationists that the phase shift from stony coral-dominated habitats may be irreversible due to a negative feedback loop of coral decline and subsequent algal, sponge or corallimorph domination,” said Jacobs.<\/p>\n

This effort is an example of ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n

For more information see SOEST<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–By Marcie Grabowski<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers discovered a corallimorph recently changed and became much more invasive in reefs at Palmyra Atoll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[109,53,1363,175,158,92,9],"class_list":["post-146018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-coral-reefs","tag-hawaii-institute-of-marine-biology","tag-manoa-research","tag-marine-biology","tag-publication","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146018"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147361,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146018\/revisions\/147361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}