Thesis
Coral heat tolerance phenotypes across the Great Barrier Reef: genomic, environmental, endosymbiont, and methodological contributions (Abstract & Citation only)
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.576
Appears in Recent Southern Cross PhD Theses
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Abstract
Considerable genetic-based variation in heat tolerance exists both among and within populations of reef-building corals. Evolutionary processes or restoration work may act upon this variation to allow corals to keep pace with the rapid rate of climate warming. Yet, the extent of this intraspecific heat tolerance variation and the processes underlying it are not well understood. In this thesis, I explore genetic, environmental, endosymbiont, and methodological factors that contribute to heat tolerance variation in an ecologically important reef-building coral, Acropora tersa, across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in one of the largest-scale studies to date. Heat tolerance was quantified among individuals and reef sites using acute assays. In a comparison of the relative influence of a suite of environmental factors as well as endosymbiont community, the most informative predictors of heat tolerance were recent and historical thermal history. In an analysis of methodological variation in heat tolerance measurements, chlorophyll retention was the optimal metric to measure in an acute assay to represent in-situ bleaching and mortality across three Acropora species. To understand genomic contributions to heat tolerance, genome wide association studies (GWAS) were performed. While no variants attained genome-wide significance, elevated regions of significance indicated possible genomic regions involved in heat tolerance. These results will directly inform the broodstock selection for breeding for enhanced heat tolerance within the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP) and may also be applied to other conservation or restoration efforts such as assisted gene flow, marine protected area design, and evolutionary forecasting models.
Details
- Title
- Coral heat tolerance phenotypes across the Great Barrier Reef: genomic, environmental, endosymbiont, and methodological contributions (Abstract & Citation only)
- Creators
- Melissa Naugle
- Contributors
- Emily Howells (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityRamil Mauleon (Supervisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University
- Identifiers
- 991013377451302368
- Copyright
- © Melissa Naugle 2026
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre
- Resource Type
- Thesis