Proteomics of coral susceptibility to bleaching

Twelve coral colonies of Montipora capitata were collected from patch reefs located in Kāne’ohe Bay, O’ahu, Hawai’i. Colonies were brought to shore where they were immediately split into two equally sized pieces, which were acclimated before bleaching. Half of each colony went to an increased water temperature treatment (30°C, bleaching treatment) and the other stayed at ambient temperature (25°C, nonbleached treatment) for three weeks. For the bleaching treatment, experimental tank temperatures were increased  2°C per day ( 1°C every 12 hours) for four days to a final temperature of 30°C.  Samples were collected before bleaching (T1) and 24 hours after bleached colonies were returned to ambient temperature (T2), through 3 months post-bleaching (T6).