Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
  • BCO-DMO Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Related Datasets
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Project Information
• Funding

Adult culture and spawning

Adult Nematostella vectensis sea anemones were collected from a salt marsh in Brigantine, New Jersey in the fall of 2020, and spawning was induced. Larvae (n = 1 cohort with mixed parentage) were then cultured to the planula stage (3 d post-fertilization) for experimentation. An aquarium population of adult Galaxea fascicularis colonies (n = 9 females, 10 males) spawned during August 2023 at Carnegie Science (Baltimore, MD, USA), yielding a cohort of planulae (n = 1 cohort with mixed parentage) that were used in experiments within 48 h. Adult Porites astreoides colones (n = 20) were collected in Bermuda (32°22′13″N, 64°44′27″W) during July 2023. Brooded planulae (n = 4 cohorts) were collected and maintained in culture for ~ 48 h.

At the time of use in experimentation, larvae from all 3 species were in the planula stage and would become competent to settle within 72–96 h (Hand and Uhlinger 1992; Goodbody-Gringley et al. 2018; Wei et al. 2023). Artificial seawater was used for culturing and experimentation for N. vectensis and G. fascicularis, while flow-through, natural seawater facilities at the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Science were used for P. astreoides.

Dissolved oxygen treatments and larval sampling

Stage-matched, swimming planulae of Nematostella vectensis, Galaxea fascicularis, and Porites astreoides (N = 1,200–2,400 larvae species^-1) were divided into six replicate groups (three normoxia/control and three hypoxia) and exposed to 6 h of normoxia (dissolved oxygen (DO) = 6.8–8.69 mg L^-1) or severe hypoxia (DO = 1.58–1.8 mg L^-1; seawater deoxygenated using N₂ gas) inside sealed glass jars (500 mL) overnight from 21:00 h to 03:00 h the following day. The jars were placed at the ambient culture temperature for each species (N. vectensis: 18°C; G. fascicularis: 27°C; P. astreoides: 28°C). At the end of the treatment period, the jars were uncapped and groups of 20–30 larvae (N = 60–90 larvae treatment^-1 species^-1) were transferred to 1.5 mL tubes without seawater for storage at -80°C until processing for targeted metabolomics as described below.

Targeted metabolics via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Groups of frozen larvae were thawed on ice and homogenized in 160 µL of 50:50 0.3% formic acid/acetonitrile in tough microorganism tubes (Revvity, Waltham, MA, USA) at 4°C in a Precellys homogenizer (Bertin Technologies, France). Aliquots of homogenates (20 µL) were extracted with organic solvents for individual targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomics assays (acylcarnitines, amino acids, organic acids, and nucleotides). A 10 µL aliquot of each homogenate was also used for protein concentration determination (to normalize metabolite concentrations) via the Bradford method using a bovine albumin serum standard curve. Quantitation of metabolites was achieved using multiple reaction monitoring of calibration solutions and study samples on an Agilent 1290 Infinity UHPLC/6495 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer at the University of Pennsylvania Metabolomics Core (RRID:SCR_022381). Raw data were processed using Mass Hunter quantitative analysis software. Calibration curves (R² = 0.99 or greater) were fitted with a linear or a quadratic curve with a 1/X or 1/X² weighting.

Raw data were processed using Mass Hunter quantitative analysis software. Calibration curves (R² = 0.99 or greater) were fitted with a linear or a quadratic curve with a 1/X or 1/X² weighting.

- Imported "Metabolomics_data.csv" into the BCO-DMO system
- Renamed fields to comply with system and style requirements (moving number from first character)
- Exported file as "964174_v1_targeted_metabolomics"

Scientific names in the data were checked using World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) Taxon Match. All scientific names in the data are valid and accepted names as of 2025-06-10.

NSF Award Abstract:

Ocean warming driven by climate change has led to staggering losses of coral on reefs worldwide and is now among the most pressing of stressors threatening the survival of coral reef ecosystems today. As marine heatwaves associated with ocean warming become increasingly frequent, it is urgent to understand if and how reef-building corals will be able to respond to these repeat stress events and thus survive in a rapidly warming ocean. To address this problem, this project is investigating how corals on the reef respond to recurring marine heatwaves in order to identify if repeat exposure to heat stress promotes coral tolerance of higher temperatures via acclimatization or instead leads to the accumulation of stress and thus reduced performance and survival following future stress. The results of this study are critical for understanding how the current generation of corals will respond to increasingly warmer oceans, and whether acclimatization will buy enough individuals sufficient time for adaptation to occur and promote coral persistence into the future. In addition, this project is training students from secondary schools through advanced postdoctoral researchers in global change biology and ecology. Specifically, the investigators are increasing access to research opportunities for undergraduate students by developing a new hands-on course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in Global Ocean Change Biology that will reach hundreds of students per year. Outreach efforts include creation of hands-on coral reefs and climate change activities for incoming first-generation, low-income undergraduate students and a professional development program to train middle and high-school teachers to deploy these climate change activities in their classrooms in the Philadelphia Public School District.

Acclimatization following exposure to sub-lethal heat stress may be an important protective mechanism for corals to survive a changing climate. However, the role of environmental memory of marine heatwaves in driving acclimatization or, conversely, stress accumulation and sensitization of reef-building corals is not well understood. This study is addressing this question using a combination of in situ and mesocosm experiments to assess the cellular, organismal, and ecological consequences of repeat heatwaves on corals with contrasting bleaching histories. Specifically, the researchers are monitoring adjacent conspecific pairs of bleaching-susceptible and bleaching-resistant individuals of two reef-building coral species in Hawaii, Montipora capitata and Porites compressa. These corals have been monitored for over 7 years through multiple bleaching events and are being used to test the hypothesis that environmental memory of marine heatwaves differentially alters coral thermal performance due to phenotypic variation in acclimatization ability within and between species. This work is identifying whether the bleaching thresholds of corals with different bleaching histories varies through time, and the consequences of these phenotypes on coral calcification, survival, and population size structure are being assessed using a combination of benthic surveys, photogrammetry, and in situ growth measurements. The influence of environmental memory of heatwaves on coral physiology is being assessed using thermal performance curves to determine how the thermal optima of respiration, photosynthesis, calcification, and host intracellular pH change (or not) over time (e.g. ambient vs. heatwave years) and if that response differs between corals with contrasting bleaching phenotypes. Finally, the contribution of algal endosymbionts to acclimatization is being evaluated by exposing corals to a range of increasing temperatures in experimental mesocosms, potentially uncovering differences in the degree of acclimatization or sensitization for host vs. symbiont traits in corals with high fidelity (P. compressa) vs. cosmopolitan (M. capitata) symbiont associations. By understanding of the phenotypic diversity in thermal performance across biological scales, this research improves predictions of coral persistence in the face of the ongoing climate crisis.

This project is supported by the Biological Oceanography, Integrative Ecological Physiology, and Ocean Education Programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.