◆Research findings by Sam Edward Manalili, a third-year student in the Kuroshio Region Integrated Science Program, and Dr. Shashank Keshavmurthy, who graduated from the Graduate School of Marine Science in the Kuroshio Region in 2008, have been published in the journal *Marine Biology*
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Evaluating the short-term recovery process of reef-building corals following moderate heat stress
Research findings by Sam Edward Manalili, a third-year student in the Kuroshio Region Integrated Science Program, and Dr. Shashank Keshavmurthy, who graduated from the Graduate School of Marine Science in the Kuroshio Region in 2008 (Kuroshio Biological Research Institute, Otsuki Town), were published in the journal *Marine Biology* on April 21, 2025.
It is widely known that rising sea temperatures caused by global warming lead to coral bleaching in reef-building corals, and while research and conservation efforts focusing on the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are underway, our understanding of the “recovery process” following bleaching at the molecular level has been limited.
In this study, we focused on the reef-building coral Acropora hyacinthus inhabiting a temperate region (Nishidomari, Ōtsuki Town, Kochi Prefecture) to investigate the details of its short-term recovery process following moderate thermal stress reproduced under controlled aquarium conditions. We evaluated this process by measuring physiological indicators such as the cell density of symbiotic algae (Symbiodiniaceae),chlorophyll a concentration, and photosynthetic efficiency, while also conducting transcriptomic analysis of the host coral to observe changes in gene expression.
As a result, physiological indicators of the symbiotic algae declined significantly during the heat stress period, and this trend persisted during the recovery period; meanwhile, the expression of recovery-specific gene clusters was observed in the host coral, suggesting a shift from a stress response to metabolic remodeling. These molecular responses indicate that the host is actively attempting to restore homeostasis, revealing that the physiological state of the symbiotic algae does not necessarily align with the host’s molecular response.
These findings suggest that unknown biological processes may be occurring during coral recovery assessments, and they provide crucial foundational data for understanding the adaptive evolution of reef-building corals in temperate regions and their responses to climate change.
[Paper Information]
Published in: Marine Biology
Title: Short-term recovery responses in Acropora hyacinthus exposed to moderate-term thermal stress.
Authors: Sam Edward N. Manalili, Dan Anthony U. Bataan, Dana Ulanova, Tetsuya Sakurai, Satoko Sekida, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Takuma Mezaki, and Satoshi Kubota