de la Torre Cerro Rubén, Beauchamp Elizabeth, Buzzoni Daisy, Craggs Jamie, East Holly, Edwards Alasdair, Golbuu Yimnang, Humanes Adriana, Lachs Liam, Martínez Helios, Mill Aileen, van der Steeg Eveline, Ward Alex, Guest James R
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
Coral Reefs. 2025;44(2):501-512. doi: 10.1007/s00338-025-02618-9. Epub 2025 Jan 28.
For sessile broadcast spawning marine invertebrates, such as corals, successful sexual reproduction depends on conspecifics spawning synchronously. The precise monthly, lunar, and diel timing and the extent of synchrony, i.e., proportion of population reproducing at the same time, are likely to play a key role in coral population recovery, persistence, and adaptation. Despite its importance, the mechanisms by which different environmental factors trigger corals to spawn on specific dates within the lunar cycle remain poorly understood. Periods of darkness post-sunset around full moon of the spawning month have been shown to induce spawning in merulinid corals, whereas for moonlight is considered the main determinant driver of night of spawning. Here, we conducted two manipulative field experiments around full moon in Palau using the common table coral aff. to disentangle the role of moonlight and darkness post-sunset as proximate cues. Coral fragments were assigned to three treatments providing different post-sunset darkness conditions, versus control and procedural control fragments exposed to natural conditions. In contrast to previous studies on , we found that aff. can spawn synchronously in the absence of moonlight during the nights leading to spawning. Corals exposed to darkness post-sunset for at least two to three consecutive nights advanced their spawning compared to controls. This finding indicates that periods of darkness post-sunset can act as an inducer for spawning in as well as in merulinid corals, suggesting that this mechanism may be more widespread than previously thought.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00338-025-02618-9.
对于固着性散播配子的海洋无脊椎动物，如珊瑚，成功的有性繁殖依赖于同种个体的同步产卵。精确的月度、农历和昼夜时间安排以及同步程度，即同时繁殖的种群比例，可能在珊瑚种群恢复、存续和适应中发挥关键作用。尽管其很重要，但不同环境因素触发珊瑚在农历周期内特定日期产卵的机制仍知之甚少。已表明，产卵月份满月后日落后的黑暗时段会诱导梅氏珊瑚产卵，而对于月光被认为是产卵夜晚的主要决定性驱动因素。在此，我们在帕劳满月前后进行了两项操纵性野外实验，使用常见的平板珊瑚（近似种）来厘清月光和日落后黑暗作为近端线索的作用。将珊瑚碎片分配到三种处理中，提供不同的日落后黑暗条件，与暴露于自然条件下的对照和程序对照碎片进行对比。与之前对[相关珊瑚]的研究不同，我们发现近似种在导致产卵的夜晚在没有月光的情况下也能同步产卵。与对照组相比，连续至少两到三个日落后暴露于黑暗中的珊瑚提前了它们的产卵时间。这一发现表明，日落后的黑暗时段可以作为近似种以及梅氏珊瑚产卵的诱导因素，这表明这种机制可能比之前认为的更为普遍。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s00338-025-02618-9获取的补充材料。
