Cross-generational effects of climate change on a photosynthetic sponge

Unlike calcifying invertebrates, a number of sponges have demonstrated tolerance to climate scenarios predicted for the future; however, the mechanisms that enable them to cope with ocean warming and ocean acidification are limited. In this project, we examined whether microbiome-mediated cross-generational acclimatization could enable a photosynthetic sponge to survive under predicted climate scenarios. This associated dataset provides information on the mortality and bleaching observed in juvenile sponge recruits that were transplanted to climate scenarios predicted for 2050 and 2100. A visual bleaching assessment was conducted at the end of the 5-week experiment, with mortality captured throughout. Data was entered in excel and visualized using graphs in R.