Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations HCNSO Student Work 12-7-2016 Coral recovery on phase-shifted reefs depend upon the type of macroalgae present Justin N. Voss Nova Southeastern University Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Justin N. Voss. 2016. Coral recovery on phase-shifted reefs depend upon the type of macroalgae present. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (435) https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/435. This Thesis is brought to you by the HCNSO Student Work at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HALMOS COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND OCEANOGRAPHY Coral recovery on phase-shifted reefs depend upon the type of macroalgae present By Justin Nicholas Voss Submitted to the Faculty of Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science with a specialty in: Marine Biology and Coastal Zone Management Nova Southeastern University December 2016 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Nicole Fogarty, for being an amazing educator and mentor during my graduate career. Under her guidance, I was successful in making a valuable contribution to the scientific literature that would not have come to fruition without her immense talent and skill. Dr. Fogarty’s vast knowledge and experience provided the tools to effectively manage issues and difficulties involved with larvae experiments. I could not imagine having a better advisor or mentor for my Master’s research. I would also like to express my gratitude to my committee members, Dr. Joana Figueiredo and Dr. Jennifer Sneed, for their invaluable help throughout the entire process in conducting my thesis research. Dr. Figueiredo was crucial in molding my experimental design, making it more sound and accurate. She also provided guidance and assistance with statistics that was vital to determining the significance of my study. Dr. Sneed provide excellent feedback, advice, and knowledge on the complex research area of chemical cues and crustose coralline algae. I would also like to thank my fellow lab mates for providing edits, suggestions and feedback on my thesis, especially those who helped score my settlement tiles, Hunter Noren, Margaret Rushmore, and Alicia Vollmer. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Xaymara Serrano and recent Master’s graduate student, Margaret Rushmore, for sharing resources and splitting cost during coral larvae collection. Dr. Serrano provided excellent guidance and insight, and assisted with sharing resources and troubleshooting issues. Margaret Rushmore was irreplaceable in conducting my work. A special thanks to Margaret for helping me find my experimental reef chambers during the first deployment, taking several hours of swimming in a meandering pattern to locate my project. I want to thank the International Phycological Society and American Museum of Natural History for providing grants to finance my research which allowed me to conduct my research in the Florida Keys. A special thanks to Dr. Ligia Collado-Vides and Dr. Ana Tronholm for their assistance in identifying the macroalgal vouchers. Dr. Collado- Vides was vital for Laurencia voucher identification and Dr. Tronholm was crucial in voucher identification in the Dictyotaceae family down to species. Without these identifications, I would not have properly analyzed data and reached my current conclusions in my thesis research. Finally, I need to thank my family for their support and my girlfriend Courtney Hunter for her many edits to my proposal and thesis. I want to thank everyone for their help during my research, no matter how much or little, this project would not have been the same without your contribution. Contents List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... i List of Tables .................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iv Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Coral Reef Importance and Phase-shift ...................................................................1 1.2 Causes of Phase-shift ................................................................................................2 1.3 Macroalgae Abundance and Reproduction ..............................................................4 1.4 Impacts of Macroalgae ..............................................................................................5 1.4.1 Impacts on Adult Corals ..................................................................................... 5 1.4.2 The Effect of macroalgae on Coral Recruitment ................................................ 7 1.5 Florida’s Reefs ..........................................................................................................9 1.6 Porites astreoides Reproduction .............................................................................11 1.7 Larval Chemoreception ...........................................................................................11 1.8 Settlement Induction Compounds ...........................................................................13 1.9 Laurencia and CCA similarities .............................................................................13 1.10 Laurencia and Coral Larvae Settlement ..............................................................15 1.11 Significance ...........................................................................................................16 1.12 Research Objectives ...............................................................................................16 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................ 18 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................18 2.2 Methods ....................................................................................................................20 2.2.1 Study site ........................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2 Collection of Porites astreoides ....................................................................... 21 2.2.3 Macroalgae collection ...................................................................................... 22 2.2.4 Settlement tile conditioning .............................................................................. 22 2.2.5 Experiment 1: Does L. intricata and Dictyotaceae impact P. astreoides larval swimming behavior? .................................................................................................. 23 2.2.6 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................ 24 2.2.7 Experiment 2 Does L. intricata influence P. astreoides settlement? ................ 25 2.2.8 Statistical analysis ............................................................................................ 26 2.2.9 Experiment 3: Does L. intricata have any latent effect on the post-settlement survival of P. astreoides? .......................................................................................... 26 2.2.10 Statistical analysis .......................................................................................... 27 2.2.11 Experiment 4: When given a choice of substrates, are P. astreoides larvae influenced by the presence of L. intricata and Dictyotaceae? .................................. 27 2.2.12 Statistical analysis .......................................................................................... 28 2.2.13 Experiment 5: Does L. intricata and Dictyotaceae influence the post- settlement survival of P. astreoides? ......................................................................... 29 2.2.14 Statistical analysis .......................................................................................... 29 2.3 Results ......................................................................................................................29 2.3.1 Experiment 1: Does L. intricata and Dictyotaceae impact P. astreoides larval swimming behavior? .................................................................................................. 29 2.3.2 Experiment 2: Does L. intricata influence P. astreoides settlement? .............. 35 2.2.3 Experiment 3: Does the presence of L. intricata have any latent effects on the post-settlement survival of P. astreoides? ................................................................. 37 2.2.4 Experiment 4: When given a choice of substrates, are P. astreoides larvae influenced by the presence of L. intricata and Dictyotaceae? .................................. 40 2.2.5 Experiment 5: Does L. intricata and Dictyotaceae influence the post-settlement survival of P. astreoides? 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