During the last 20 years, SAM has developed a multiplicity of hypothesis-driven conservation and restoration projects. Being home to the oldest Community-based coral aquaculture and reef rehabilitation program in the Caribbean, we aim to develop a variety of scientific publications that highlight our commitment towards the conservatiion of our marine resources. Most publications are freely available on our website.
Peer reviewed publications
Rodríguez-Casariego, Javier A.; Mercado-Molina, Alex E.; Garcia-Souto, Daniel; Ortiz-Rivera, Ivanna M.; Lopes, Christian; Baums, Iliana B.; Sabat, Alberto M.; Eirin-Lopez, Jose M. In: Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 7, 2020. Ruiz-Diaz, Claudia P.; Toledo-Hernandez, Carlos; Mercado-Molina, Alex E.; Pérez, María-Eglée; Sabat, Alberto M. The role of coral colony health state in the recovery of lesions Journal Article In: Peer J, pp. 1-13, 2016.2020
@article{Rodríguez-Casariego2020,
title = {Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis reveals a conserved epigenetic response to seasonal environmental variation in the staghorn coral \textit{Acropora cervicornis}.},
author = {Javier A. Rodríguez-Casariego and Alex E. Mercado-Molina and Daniel Garcia-Souto and Ivanna M. Ortiz-Rivera and Christian Lopes and Iliana B. Baums and Alberto M. Sabat and Jose M. Eirin-Lopez},
editor = {Yong Wang and Mikhail V. Matz and Alexandre Fellous and Hui Huang},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.560424/full
https://www.sampr.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Genome-wide-DNA-methylation-analysis-reveals-a-conserved-epigenetic-response-to-seasonal-environmental-variation-in-the-staghorn-coral-Acropora-cervicornis.pdf},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.560424},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-09-30},
urldate = {2020-09-30},
journal = {Frontiers in Marine Science},
volume = {7},
abstract = {Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation have been shown to participate in plastic responses to environmental change in a wide range of organisms, including scleractinian corals. Unfortunately, the current understanding of the links between environmental signals, epigenetic modifications, and the subsequent consequences for acclimatory phenotypic changes remain obscure. Such a knowledge gap extends also to the dynamic nature of epigenetic changes, hampering our ability to ascertain the magnitude and extent of these responses under natural conditions. The present work aims to shed light on these subjects by examining temporal changes in genome-wide patterns of DNA methylation in the staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis in the island of Culebra, PR. During a 17-month period, a total of 162 polymorphic loci were identified using Methylation-Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism (MSAP). Among them, 83 of these restriction fragments displayed changes in DNA methylation that were significantly correlated to seasonal variation as determined mostly by changes in sea water temperature. Remarkably, the observed time-dependent variation in DNA methylation patterns is consistent across coral genets, coral source sites and site-specific conditions studied. Overall, these results are consistent with a conserved epigenetic response to seasonal environmental variation. These findings highlight the importance of including seasonal variability into experimental designs investigating the role of epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation in responses to stress.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2016
@article{Ruiz-Diaz2016b,
title = {The role of coral colony health state in the recovery of lesions},
author = {Claudia P. Ruiz-Diaz and Carlos Toledo-Hernandez and Alex E. Mercado-Molina and María-Eglée Pérez and Alberto M. Sabat},
url = {https://www.sampr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Ruiz-Diazetal2016.pdf
https://peerj.com/articles/1531/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26788423/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289376592_The_role_of_coral_colony_health_state_in_the_recovery_of_lesions},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1531},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-05},
urldate = {2016-01-12},
journal = {Peer J},
pages = {1-13},
abstract = {Coral disease literature has focused, for the most part, on the etiology of the more than 35 coral afflictions currently described. Much less understood are the factors that underpin the capacity of corals to regenerate lesions, including the role of colony health. This lack of knowledge with respect to the factors that influence tissue regeneration significantly limits our understanding of the impact of diseases at the colony, population, and community level. In this study, we experimentally compared tissue regeneration capacity of diseased versus healthy fragments of Gorgonia ventalina colonies at 5 m and 12 m of depth. We found that the initial health state of colonies (i.e., diseased or healthy) had a significant effect on tissue regeneration (healing). All healthy fragments exhibited full recovery regardless of depth treatment, while diseased fragments did not. Our results suggest that being diseased or healthy has a significant effect on the capacity of a sea fan colony to repair tissue, but that environmental factors associated with changes in depth, such as temperature and light, do not. We conclude that disease doesn’t just compromise vital functions such as growth and reproduction in corals but also compromises their capacity to regenerate tissue and heal lesions.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}