Research: Coral bleaching leads to bacteria growth and further stress on health of reefs

Marine scientists are gaining a better understanding of coral bleaching caused by climate change, rising ocean temperatures, pollution and sediment runoff.

New research led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research shows that, when coral bleaching occurs, corals release unique organic compounds that promote bacterial growth and bacteria that may further stress reefs and put them at greater risk for more damage.

“Our results demonstrate how the impacts of both short-term thermal stress and long-term bleaching may extend beyond coral and into the water column,” said Wesley Sparagon, co-lead author, postdoctoral researcher in the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and a previous doctoral student with the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

The research team included scientists from UH Mānoa, NIOZ, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of California, Santa Barbara. They conducted experiments on bleached and unbleached corals gathered during a bleaching event in Moorea, French Polynesia, in 2019.

“Although coral bleaching is a well-documented and increasingly widespread phenomenon in reefs across the globe, there has been relatively little research on the implications for reef water column microbiology and biogeochemistry,” said Craig Nelson, senior author on the study and professor in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

A heating experiment showed the research team that both thermally stressed and bleached coral exude a different composition of organic matter in response to thermal stress, compared to unbleached coral. These unique compounds fed microbial communities in the surrounding water, causing an increase in their abundance.

“Interestingly, the microbes responding to bleaching coral exudates (compounds coral exude) were distinct from those grown on healthy coral exudates,” said Sparagon. “And, there were higher abundances of fast-growing opportunists and potential pathogens. The growth of these microbial communities around stressed corals may harm corals, either through suffocation or by introducing disease.”

According to scientists, the biggest surprise was that this shift in the compounds coral release occurred in coral that underwent any stress in the study, at the beginning or end of coral bleaching. These included corals that had been warmed but not bleached yet; corals that were both heated and bleached; and corals that had bleached previously in the field. 

“This suggests that this process occurs throughout the period of coral bleaching, from onset of thermal stress all the way through recovery,” said Milou Arts, co-lead author of NIOZ. “Importantly, it is most pronounced in healthy corals under thermal stress, suggesting that it is most influential at the onset of thermal stress and may push corals towards more severe bleaching and ultimately, mortality.” 

The researchers are working to identify compounds and microbes in the water column that serve as an early-warning system for coral reefs under stress. This could enhance or complement other coral reef conservation efforts, especially in terms of identifying coral reef stress before catastrophic damage has occurred.