Differential proteomic response to bleaching in coral tissue versus skeletal matrix

On August 22 – 25, 2017, 3 colonies of Montipora capitata with a diameter of ~ 24 cm were collected from the inner lagoon surrounding the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). The corals were acclimated in outdoor flow-through tanks at HIMB that were supplied with ambient seawater and covered with shade-cloth to mimic PAR levels on the reef. Each colony was split in half with a hammer and chisel to produce two colonies of identical genotype, so that each genotype would experience both ambient and increased temperatures. On August 28 - 29, the corals were equally divided among the experimental tanks, at ambient (n=3) or increased (n=3) temperature. Throughout the temperature treatment, corals were randomly rotated among tanks to minimize potential tank effects. On September 1, the temperature in the increased temperature tanks was turned up 2°C per day, 1°C at 0900 and 1°C at 1400, for four days, reaching an average temperature of 30 °C. The ambient tanks averaged 25 °C. On September 26, the heaters were turned off and the temperature returned to ambient levels by Sept. 29.