Long-term exposure to an extreme environment induces species-specific responses in corals’ photosynthesis and respiration rates

Extreme reef environments have become useful natural laboratories to investigate physiological specificities of species chronically exposed to future-like climatic conditions. The lagoon of Bouraké in New Caledonia (21°56′56.16′′ S; 125°59′36.82′′ E) is one of the only reef environments studied where the three main climatic stressors predicted to most severely impact corals occur. In this lagoon, temperatures, seawater pHT and dissolved oxygen chronically fluctuate between extreme and close-to-normal values (17.5–33.85 °C, 7.23–7.92 pHT units and 1.87–7.24 mg O2 L−1, respectively). In March 2020, the endosymbiont functions (chl a, cell density and photosynthesis) and respiration rates were investigated in seven coral species from this lagoon and compared with those of corals from an adjacent reference site using hour-long incubations mimicking present-day and future conditions. Corals originating from Bouraké displayed significant differences in these variables compared to reference corals, but these differences were species-specific. Photosynthetic rates of Bouraké corals were all significantly lower than those of reference corals but were partially compensated by higher chlorophyll contents. Respiration rates of the Bouraké corals were either lower or comparable to those of reference corals. Conversely, photosynthesis and respiration rates of most studied species were similar regardless of the incubation conditions, which mimicked either present-day or future conditions. This study supports previous work indicating that no unique response can explain corals’ tolerance to sub-optimal conditions and that a variety of mechanisms will be at play for corals in a changing world.