'Lost' coral species resurrected

Date:
May 5, 2022
Source:
Curtin University
Summary:
With about one-third of the world's corals currently under threat
of extinction due to climate change, researchers have made the
encouraging discovery of a 'lost' species of coral that had been
hidden for more than 50 years.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
With about one-third of the world's corals currently under threat of
extinction due to climate change, Curtin researchers have made the
encouraging discovery of a 'lost' species of coral that had been hidden
for more than 50 years.


==========================================================================
Lead author PhD student David Juszkiewicz, from the Coral Conservation and Research Group within the Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory
in Curtin's School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said researchers found
the coral Plesiastrea versipora, which is widespread in the Indo-Pacific
Ocean, was actually hiding a second, cryptic species.

"The speciesPlesiastrea peroni was described some 200 years ago however
as time went on taxonomists clumped it with Plesiastrea versipora but
we have now resurrected the former species, which had been hidden for
more half a century," Juszkiewicz said.

"We trawled through 200 years of historical and modern-day literature to firstly understand the larger morphological characteristics of Plesiastrea versipora, which was first described as a single species in 1816.

"By diving on various sites around Australia and the Indo-Pacific,
we collected samples, which we used to study the micromorphology and microstructure of the coral skeleton to further identify its unique
intricate features.

"After carrying out genetic sequencing, we found this species of coral
actually contained a second, cryptic species, which we named Plesiastrea
peroni -- and this is found north of the Tropic of Capricorn in Australia
and across the Indo-Pacific.

"Being able to accurately identify species is paramount to quality
ecological research and conservation decision-making, so this study
will allow coral ecologists and biologists to know which species of
Plesiastrea they are working on." Juszkiewicz said the discovery of a
new species assisted in biodiversity conservation and helped to prevent
the loss of species diversity.

"With the ever-worsening impact of climate change on the marine
environment, it has never been more important to understand coral species
and where they occur," Juszkiewicz said.

"We cannot protect species if we do not know about their existence
or their present-day geographic range so this study is a step towards
achieving this.

"With many species of both marine and terrestrial life under threat from
human- driven climate change, this study bolsters our understanding of
the tree of life and highlights the importance of taxonomy projects that
help us understand the organisms that exist on our planet, how they are
all related and how to better protect them."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Curtin_University. Original written
by Lucien Wilkinson.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. David J. Juszkiewicz, Nicole E. White, Jarosław Stolarski,
Francesca
Benzoni, Roberto Arrigoni, Bert W. Hoeksema, Nerida G. Wilson,
Michael Bunce, Zoe T. Richards. Phylogeography of recent Plesiastrea
(Scleractinia: Plesiastreidae) based on an integrated taxonomic
approach.

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2022; 172: 107469 DOI:
10.1016/ j.ympev.2022.107469 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220505085624.htm

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