Coral Isotope data from a heating experiment using samples collected from Nikko Bay and Rebotel Reef in Palau in the spring of 2018

Coral reefs surrounding Palau, Micronesia are living within a broad range of thermal habitats. Specifically, corals living on the offshore barrier reefs surrounding Palau reside in waters with low temperature variability compared to the much warmer and more acidic waters of near shore environments surrounding the Rock Island habitats.

This study was designed to test the differences in thermal physiology among two species of reef corals that reside at both of these locations. Specifically, we examined how short-term elevated temperature influences the uptake and assimilation of carbon and nitrogen isotopes into the symbiotic algae, the coral tissue, and the coral skeleton among these two coral species.