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Science 17 January 1992:
Vol. 255. no. 5042, pp. 330 - 333
DOI: 10.1126/science.255.5042.330
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Articles

Sibling Species in Montastraea annularis, Coral Bleaching, and the Coral Climate Record

NANCY KNOWLTON 1, ERNESTO WEIL 1, LEE A. WEIGT 1, and HÉCTOR M. GUZMÁN 1

1 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama

Measures of growth and skeletal isotopic ratios in the Caribbean coral Montastraea annularis are fundamental to many studies of paleoceanography, environmental degradation, and global climate change. This taxon is shown to consist of at least three sibling species in shallow waters. The two most commonly studied of these show highly significant differences in growth rate and oxygen isotopic ratios, parameters routinely used to estimate past climatic conditions; unusual coloration in the third may have confused research on coral bleaching. Interpretation or comparison of past and current studies can be jeopardized by ignoring these species boundaries.

Submitted on May 30, 1991
Accepted on October 2, 1991


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Molecular confirmation of species status for the rare cephalaspidean Melanochlamys lorrainae (Rudman, 1968), and comparison with its sister species M. cylindrica Cheeseman, 1881.
P. J. Krug, M. S. Morley, J. Asif, L. L. Hellyar, and W. M. Blom (2008)
J. Mollus. Stud. 74, 267-276
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A NEW, EXTINCT PLEISTOCENE REEF CORAL FROM THE MONTASTRAEA "ANNULARIS" SPECIES COMPLEX.
J. M. PANDOLFI (2007)
Journal of Paleontology 81, 472-482
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A new poecilogonous species of sea slug (Opisthobranchia: Sacoglossa) from California: comparison with the planktotrophic congener Alderia modesta (Loven, 1844).
P. J. Krug, R. A. Ellingson, R. Burton, and A. Valdes (2007)
J. Mollus. Stud. 73, 29-38
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Historical Climate Variation in Belize (Central America) as Recorded in Scleractinian Coral Skeletons.
E. GISCHLER and W. OSCHMANN (2005)
Palaios 20, 159-174
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Overlapping species boundaries and hybridization within the Montastraea "annularis" reef coral complex in the Pleistocene of the Bahama Islands.
(2004)
Paleobiology 30, 396-425
Comparison of Caribbean Coral Reef Communities Before and After Plio-Pleistocene Faunal Turnover: Analyses of Two Dominican Republic Reef Sequences.
(2003)
Palaios 18, 3-21
Zooxanthellae of the Montastraea annularis Species Complex: Patterns of Distribution of Four Taxa of Symbiodinium on Different Reefs and Across Depths.
W. W. Toller, R. Rowan, and N. Knowlton (2001)
Biol. Bull. 201, 348-359
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Decoupling of Molecular and Morphological Evolution in Deep Lineages of a Meiobenthic Harpacticoid Copepod.
A. Rocha-Olivares, J. W. Fleeger, and D. W. Foltz (2001)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 18, 1088-1102
   Abstract »    Full Text »
THE ORIGIN AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE MONTASTRAEA "ANNULARIS" SPECIES COMPLEX (ANTHOZOA: SCLERACTINIA).
(2001)
Journal of Paleontology 75, 527-545
The Adaptive Bleaching Hypothesis: Experimental Tests of Critical Assumptions.
R. A. Kinzie III, M. Takayama, S. R. Santos, and M. A. Coffroth (2001)
Biol. Bull. 200, 51-58
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Macroboring of Pleistocene Coral Communities, Falmouth Formation, Jamaica.
(2000)
Palaios 15, 483-491


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