Effects of Lobophora chemistry on settlement of coral larvae

The effects of Lobophora allelopathy chemistry on the settlement of larvae of nine species of corals was studied bioassays.In October 2020, adult colonies of A. muricata, A. hyacinthus, A. intermedia, A. elseyi, Montipora aequituberculata, Goniastrea retiformis, Platygyra daedalea, and Coelastrea aspera were collected from the Keppel Islands. Adult colonies of A.millepora were collected from the Palm Islands and colonies of A. elseyi, were collected in 2019 from Falcon Reef. Spawn from these colonies was collected and cultured and used in settlement assays (in 6 well culture plates) using various extracts and conditioned water of Lobophora (collected from the Keppel Islands) and CCA/Rubble (collected from Palm Island and Davies Reef respectively). All assay were performed at SeaSim.The cover of Lobophora was measured from photographs of 10 x 10cm quadrats at Mazie Bay, Pumpkin Island and Halfway Island Reefs. All Lobophora within these quadrats was collected, blotted dry and weighted.