![]() ![]() Colonies > 30 cm in diameter were identified as the haplotype experiencing the most mortality, and in 1125 colonies that were not genetically identified, bleaching and mortality increased with colony size. Mitochondrial (open reading frame) sequence variation was greater between the haplotypes that experienced mortality versus haplotypes that all survived than it was between nominal species that all survived. The majority (86%) of pocilloporids that died from bleaching belonged to a single haplotype, despite twelve haplotypes, representing at least five species, being sampled. Colony mortality ranged from 11% to 42% around the island four months after heating subsided. 72% of pocilloporid colonies bleached after 22 d of severe heating (>8 oC-days) at 10 m depth on the north shore fore reef. In April 2019, prolonged ocean heating occurred at Moorea, French Polynesia. Here, we uncover differences in the bleaching response between sympatric cryptic species of the common Indo-Pacific coral, Pocillopora. However, the extent to which cryptic species differ in their response to stress, and could therefore provide a source of response diversity, remains unclear because they are often not identified or are assumed to be ecologically equivalent. Functionally similar species may often be cryptic species representing evolutionarily distinct genetic lineages that are morphologically indistinguishable. Variation among functionally similar species in their response to environmental stress buffers ecosystems from changing states. ![]()
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