Foster Taryn, Heyward Andrew J, Gilmour James P
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway Street, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2018 Feb 19;9(1):718. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03175-2.
Split spawning in coral populations occurs when gamete maturation and mass spawning are split over two consecutive months. While split spawning has been observed at many reefs, little is known about the frequency and significance of these events. Here we show that split spawning occurred frequently and predictably over a decade at Scott Reef. Split spawning overlays the biannual spawning pattern in the region and occurs when the full moon falls in the first week of the usual spawning month, or the last week of the previous month. Additionally, in split years most species have their main spawning event after a 13-month lunar cycle, in the month following the usual spawning month. Without split spawning, spawn dates would shift by ~10 days each year to occur outside of optimal environmental windows. Our results suggest that split spawning is driven by a disconnect between lunar and seasonal cues, and is analogous with a 'leap year' in coral reproduction, realigning spawning dates with favourable conditions for reproduction.
当配子成熟和大规模产卵在连续两个月内分开进行时，珊瑚种群就会出现分批产卵现象。虽然在许多珊瑚礁都观察到了分批产卵，但对于这些事件的频率和重要性却知之甚少。在此我们表明，在斯科特礁，分批产卵在十年间频繁且可预测地发生。分批产卵叠加了该地区一年两次的产卵模式，并且当满月出现在正常产卵月的第一周或前一个月的最后一周时就会发生。此外，在出现分批产卵的年份，大多数物种在13个月的农历周期后，即在正常产卵月之后的那个月，进行主要的产卵活动。如果没有分批产卵，产卵日期每年会偏移约10天，从而出现在最佳环境窗口之外。我们的结果表明，分批产卵是由月球和季节线索之间的脱节驱动的，类似于珊瑚繁殖中的“闰年”，使产卵日期与有利于繁殖的条件重新对齐。
