Algal symbioses with fire corals demonstrate host genotype specificity and niche adaptation at subspecies resolution
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Corals share an intimate relationship with photosynthetic dinoflagellates that contribute to the biology of the emerging metaorganism. While many coral-algal associations exhibit high host fidelity, the extent of this specificity under environmental change remains to be fully understood and is a prerequisite to forecasting the adaptive potential of this obligate symbiosis. Here, we disentangled the contribution of host genotype and environment on governing coral-algae associations by working at subspecies resolution. We used fine-scale genotyping of algal symbionts from 198 fire coral colonies ( Millepora cf. platyphylla) that map to ten distinct sexually produced clonal host genotypes across three environmentally distinct reef habitats. Based on microalgal ITS2 genotyping, we show that algal-host specificity extends down to the Symbiodiniaceae subspecies level in a natural reef environment. Closely related Symbiodinium (A7) - dominated algal assemblages almost perfectly mapped to fire coral host genotype. Furthermore, identification of host genotype- and habitat-specific Symbiodinium alga suggest the presence of algal phenotypic diversity even at this taxonomic resolution (i.e., within Symbiodinium A7), which may aid environmental niche adaptation of the metaorganism. Our results suggest that the here-identified Millepora - Symbiodinium associations are co-evolved to match their prevailing environment. Thus, despite the presence of rarer host generalist Cladocopium algae, scope for environmentally induced modification of the cnidarian-algal association is likely constrained by host genotype.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".