Marine Biology Commons^™

Coral-Excavating Sponge Cliona Delitrix: Current Trends Of Space Occupation On High Latitude Coral Reefs, Ari Halperin, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, David S. Gilliam

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The recent increase in abundance of coral-excavating sponges is a threat to the health of coral reefs. However, the distribution and growth of these sponges are poorly documented on high latitude reefs where corals live in marginal environmental conditions. In this study, we characterize the current trends of space occupation of Cliona delitrix on high latitude reefs (26°N) in southeast Florida. C. delitrix densities were significantly higher on the deepest habitat of this reef tract (the outer reef) in response to a higher availability of coral substratum. Sponge growth rates increased with depth, and in relation to presence of tunicates …

Transgenerational Effects Of Thermal Stress: Impacts On And Beyond Coral Reproduction, Alyson Kuba

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Ocean warming causes stress to corals and records reveal that periods of thermal stress are increasing in frequency and severity. Previous studies show that thermal stress negatively impacts the reproductive output of corals. However, the transgenerational impacts of coral bleaching have never been quantified. As a consequence, it is unclear how ocean warming may alter population dynamics due to effects on reproduction and recruitment. This study quantified the transgenerational impacts of thermal stress in Montastraea cavernosa. To assess transgenerational effects of temperature stress during gametogenesis, colonies were exposed to elevated temperature for two weeks four months prior to spawning, …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Coral Restoration Nurseries, Grace Hanson

Senior Honors Projects

Numerous ecosystems throughout the world are declining and facing conservation challenges. A variety of techniques have been developed in response with active restoration being one of them. Active restoration usually involves planting vegetation in order to restore the area to its previous state. It has been used in multiple ecosystems including seagrasses, forests, and salt marshes. Coral reefs have experienced severe declines worldwide and active restoration has been utilized to help combat their decline. It is generally done by collecting healthy fragments of coral and either transplanting them directly to a declining reef or placing them on a nursery allowing …

The Individual And Interactive Effects Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Enrichment On Coral Reefs, Andrew A. Shantz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human domination of global nutrient cycles is profoundly altering our planet. Yet on coral reefs, the effects of changing nutrient regimes have likely been over-simplified. This dissertation investigates the complexity of animal-nutrient interactions at the organismal level and explores how the outcomes of these interactions cascade through levels of biological organization. To do so, I examined the effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on corals and macroalgae, and how these effects in turn influenced reef communities and entire ecosystems. I show that P consistently increases coral growth rates while N has variable, often negative, effects on coral growth. The …

Resurgence Of Acropora Corals On Mid Shelf Patch Reefs, Southwater Caye Marine Reserve, Central Belize, Jillian J. Keefer

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Acropora cervicornis (staghorn) and Acropora palmata (elkhorn) are ecologically important corals that grow quickly and provide topography and refuges for fish and invertebrates. Historically, Acropora was the most abundant coral in shallow patch reef zones in the Caribbean. During the 1980s, white band disease eliminated most Acropora causing a loss in rugosity and an increase of macroalgae on many reefs. Although Acropora remains rare throughout most of the Caribbean, this study documents its partial comeback and possible limiting factors in Southwater Caye Marine Reserve (SWCMR), Central Belize. Patch reefs in the reserve averaged 19% live coral cover with A. palmata …

Modeling Of Epizootics On Four Genera Of Arabian Gulf Corals, John Alexander Kluge

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral colonies, from a reef near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), were counted and assessed for condition using photo-transects. An epidemic model, used to track how a communicable disease moves through a population, was constructed to help predict the future condition of this coral reef. In situ data from a disease outbreak that occurred in September 2011 provided a baseline for the model. Coral Populations of Porites, Platygyra, Acropora and Dipsastrea were modelled using condition categories that included Healthy, Black Band Disease Infected, Cyanobacteria Infected, Recovered, Recruits or Dead. Results from the modelling indicate that populations of Platygyra and …

Investigating The Driving Mechanisms Behind Differences In Bleaching And Disease Susceptibility Between Two Scleractinian Corals, Pseudodiploria Strigosa And Diploria Labyrinthiformis, Zoe A. Pratte

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disease and bleaching are two conditions which commonly lead to coral death. Among coral species, susceptibility to disease and bleaching is variable, and Pseudodiploria strigosa tends to be diseased more than Diploria labyrinthiformis, while D. labyrinthiformis bleaches more readily. The focus of this dissertation was to investigate and compare multiple components of these two coral species, and identify how they may relate to disease and bleaching resistance. Compenetnts examined included the surface mucopolysacharide layer (SML) thickness, gene expression, microbial associates, and a white plague aquarium study. The SML thickness decresased with increasing temperature regardless of coral species, indicating that SML …

Marginal Coral Populations: The Densest Known Aggregation Of Pocillopora In The Galápagos Archipelago Is Of Asexual Origin, Iliana B. Baums, Meghann Devlin-Durante, Beatrice A. A. Laing, Joshua S. Feingold, Tyler B. Smith, Andrew Bruckner, Joao Monteiro

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Coral populations at distributional margins frequently experience suboptimal and variable conditions. Recurrent El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) warming events have caused extensive mortality of reef-building corals in the Eastern Pacific, and particularly impacted branching pocilloporid corals in the Galápagos Islands. Pocillopora spp. were previously more common and formed incipient reefs at several locations in the archipelago but now occur as scattered colonies. Here, we report an unusually concentrated aggregation of colonies and evaluate their current genetic diversity. In particular we focus on a large population of 1614 live Pocillopora colonies found in a volcanic lagoon along the southern shore of Isabela …

Factors In Long-Term Algal Composition Of Cayman Reefs: Determining Effects Of Natural Disturbance And Grazer Pressures, Patrick J. Doughty

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Abstract. Current research shows a worldwide shift in the population dynamics of reefs attributed to increasing human disturbance. With increasing nutrient additions, competitive populations of turf and macroalgae bloom and dominate coral reefs leading to decreased health of the reef as a whole. Unfortunately, few studies have been done showing the long-term changes in algae composition on reefs. In order to find the significant factors in the long-term composition of algae on reefs, algae and fish abundance data were collected through the Lawrence University Marine Program and analyzed for this study. Algae were split into three functional groups: encrusting, turf …

Coral-Fish Dynamics And Interactions: A Case Study Of Grand Cayman, Eileen Shea Davis

Lawrence University Honors Projects

To better understand the ecological interactions of coral reefs, it is important to understand the mechanisms that control the distribution and abundance of reef-building corals as well as the mechanisms that control the diversity and abundance of the fish community that inhabits these reef habitats. The purpose of this study was to identify specific coral-fish interactions among the reefs of Grand Cayman in order to gain insight into the biological effects of fish on the assemblage of hard corals. Using data collected by the Lawrence University Marine Program (LUMP), a number of exploratory statistical analyses were run in order to …

Concordance Between Phylogeographic And Biogeographic Boundaries In The Coral Triangle: Conservation Implications Based On Comparative Analyses Of Multiple Giant Clam Species, Timery S. Deboer, Maria Rio Abdon Naguit, Mark V. Erdmann, Maria Carmen A. Ablan-Lagman, Ambariyanto, Kent E. Carpenter, Abdul Hamid A. Toha, Paul H. Barber

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine habitats are in decline worldwide, precipitating a strong interest in marine conservation. The use of biogeographic data to designate ecoregions has had significant impacts on terrestrial conservation efforts. However, classification of marine environments into ecoregions has only become available in the last several years, based on biogeographic data supplemented by geomorphology, ocean currents, and water temperatures. Here we use a comparative phylogeographic approach to test for concordant phylogeographic patterns in three closely related species of Tridacna giant clams across the Coral Triangle, the most biodiverse marine region in the world and one of the most threatened. Data from a …

Transcriptome Deep-Sequencing And Clustering Of Expressed Isoforms From Favia Corals, Shaadi F. Pooyaei Mehr, Rob Desalle, Hung-Teh Kao, Apurva Narechania, Zhou Han, Dan Tchernov, Vincent A. Pieribone, David F. Gruber

Publications and Research

Background: Genomic and transcriptomic sequence data are essential tools for tackling ecological problems. Using an approach that combines next-generation sequencing, de novo transcriptome assembly, gene annotation and synthetic gene construction, we identify and cluster the protein families from Favia corals from the northern Red Sea.

Results: We obtained 80 million 75 bp paired-end cDNA reads from two Favia adult samples collected at 65 m (Fav1, Fav2) on the Illumina GA platform, and generated two de novo assemblies using ABySS and CAP3. After removing redundancy and filtering out low quality reads, our transcriptome datasets contained 58,268 (Fav1) and 62,469 (Fav2) contigs …

Disturbance Driven Colony Fragmentation As A Driver Of A Coral Disease Outbreak, Marilyn E. Brandt, Tyler B. Smith, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Rebecca Vega-Thurber

Department of Biological Sciences

In September of 2010, Brewer's Bay reef, located in St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands), was simultaneously affected by abnormally high temperatures and the passage of a hurricane that resulted in the mass bleaching and fragmentation of its coral community. An outbreak of a rapid tissue loss disease among coral colonies was associated with these two disturbances. Gross lesion signs and lesion progression rates indicated that the disease was most similar to the Caribbean coral disease white plague type 1. Experiments indicated that the disease was transmissible through direct contact between colonies, and five-meter radial transects showed a clustered spatial distribution …

Transcriptional Response Of Two Core Photosystem Genes In Symbiodinium Spp. Exposed To Thermal Stress, Michael P. Mcginley, Matthew D. Aschaffenburg, Daniel D. Pettay, Robin T. Smith, Todd C. Lajeunesse, Mark E. Warner

Department of Biological Sciences

Mutualistic symbioses between scleractinian corals and endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) are the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. For many coral-algal symbioses, prolonged episodes of thermal stress damage the symbiont's photosynthetic capability, resulting in its expulsion from the host. Despite the link between photosynthetic competency and symbiont expulsion, little is known about the effect of thermal stress on the expression of photosystem genes in Symbiodinium. This study used real-time PCR to monitor the transcript abundance of two important photosynthetic reaction center genes, psbA(encoding the D1 protein of photosystem II) and psaA (encoding the P700 protein of photosystem I), …

Coral Thermal Tolerance: Tuning Gene Expression To Resist Thermal Stress, Anthony J. Bellatuono, Camila Granados-Cifuentes, David J. Miller, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty

Department of Biological Sciences

The acclimatization capacity of corals is a critical consideration in the persistence of coral reefs under stresses imposed by global climate change. The stress history of corals plays a role in subsequent response to heat stress, but the transcriptomic changes associated with these plastic changes have not been previously explored. In order to identify host transcriptomic changes associated with acquired thermal tolerance in the scleractinian coralAcropora millepora, corals preconditioned to a sub-lethal temperature of 3°C below bleaching threshold temperature were compared to both non-preconditioned corals and untreated controls using a cDNA microarray platform. After eight days of hyperthermal …

Macroalgae Decrease Growth And Alter Microbial Community Structure Of The Reef-Building Coral, Porites Astreoides, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Deron E. Burkepile, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Andrew R. Thurber, Andrew A. Schantz, Rory Welsh, Catharin Pritchard

Department of Biological Sciences

With the continued and unprecedented decline of coral reefs worldwide, evaluating the factors that contribute to coral demise is of critical importance. As coral cover declines, macroalgae are becoming more common on tropical reefs. Interactions between these macroalgae and corals may alter the coral microbiome, which is thought to play an important role in colony health and survival. Together, such changes in benthic macroalgae and in the coral microbiome may result in a feedback mechanism that contributes to additional coral cover loss. To determine if macroalgae alter the coral microbiome, we conducted a field-based experiment in which the coral Porites …

Development Of Gene Expression Markers Of Acute Heat-Light Stress In Reef-Building Corals Of The Genus Porites, Carly D. Kenkel, Galina Aglyamova, Ada Alamaru, Ranjeet Bhagooli, Roxana Capper, Ross Cunning, Amanda Devillers, Joshua A. Haslun, Laetitia Hédouin, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Kristin Kuehl, Huda Mahmoud, Elizabeth S. Mcginty, Phanor H. Montoya-Maya, Caroline V. Palmer, Raffaella Pantile, Juan A. Sánchez, Tom Schils, Rachel N. Silverstein, Logan B. Squiers, Pei-Ciao Tang, Tamar L. Goulet, Mikhail V. Matz

Department of Biological Sciences

Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to increased incidence of climate-induced coral bleaching, which will have widespread biodiversity and economic impacts. A simple method to measure the sub-bleaching level of heat-light stress experienced by corals would greatly inform reef management practices by making it possible to assess the distribution of bleaching risks among individual reef sites. Gene expression analysis based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine coral condition in situ. We evaluated the expression of 13 candidate genes during heat-light stress in a common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides, and observed strong …

Sampling Methods For Acropora Corals, Other Benthic Coral Reef Organisms, And Marine Debris In The Florida Keys: Field Protocol Manual For 2011-2012 Assessments, Steven Miller, Leanne M. Rutten, Mark Chiappone

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

The 2011-2012 sampling of Acropora corals, other coral reef benthic invertebrates, and marine debris in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is being undertaken as a spatially intensive effort to provide updated population distribution and abundance information. The particular focus of surveys in the Florida Keys, as well as in the U.S. Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the U.S.V.I.), concerns the habitat distribution, colony density, size, condition, and population abundance of Acropora corals. Surveys in the Florida Keys also include assessments of urchins, mollusks, anemones, corallimorpharians, and marine debris. These additional assessments are relatively fast and easy to perform. Annual …

Population Status Of Acropora Corals In The Florida Keys, Steven Miller, Mark Chiappone, Leanne M. Rutten, Dione W. Swanson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Population declines of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn coral (A. palmata) are often-cited examples of Caribbean reef change since the 1970s, due, in part, to disease and localized effects from storms and predation. Both corals were listed as threatened on the U.S. Endangered Species List based upon range-wide decline and poor recovery. A spatially intensive survey undertaken in the Florida Keys of Acropora corals quantified habitat distribution, colony abundance, size, and condition at 235 sites spanning over 200 km in 2007. A two-stage stratified sampling design using belt transects incorporated cross-shelf habitats and no-fishing management …

Stony Coral Species Diversity And Cover In The Florida Keys Using Design-Based Sampling, Leanne M. Rutten, Mark Chiappone, Dione W. Swanson, Steven Miller

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Large-scale sampling of stony coral species richness, species distribution, and cover was undertaken at 423 Florida Keys sites between Miami and SW of Key West during 2005 and 2007. A two-stage, stratified random sampling design employed belt transects to enumerate numbers of species and point-intercept surveys to quantify cover. The sampling design incorporated ten reef and hard-bottom habitats from < 1 m to 27 m depth, as well as oceanographic regions and areas inside and outside of protected management zones. These data provide insights into the spatial extent and factors influencing stony coral biodiversity. For stony corals, a pool of ~50 taxa encompassing the Orders Milleporina and Scleractinia, including species and morphotypes, was recorded. Significant differences were found in species richness and cover among cross-shelf habitats, with great values on inner shelf margin patch reefs, followed by deeper fore-reef slope habitats that extended to the 27 m depth limit sampled. In contrast, the shallow fore-reef, especially in areas historically dominated by the branching coral Acropora palmata, yielded relatively low numbers of species and cover that are presently dominated by smaller, brooding corals such as Porites astreoides and Favia fragum.

Comparison Of Bacterial Diversity Within The Coral Reef Sponge, Axinella Corrugata, And The Encrusting Coral Erythropodium Caribaeorum, Jose V. Lopez, L. K. Ranzer, A. Ledger, B. Schoch, A. Duckworth, P. J. Mccarthy, R. G. Kerr

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

We compared the Caribbean reef sponge, Axinella corrugata, with the Caribbean reef coral, Erythropodium caribaeorum for differences in their resident microbial communities. This cursory survey of bacterial diversity applied 16S rRNA gene sequences. Over 100 culture-independent sequences were generated from five different Axinella 16S rRNA libraries, and compared with 69 cultured isolates. The cultureindependent 16S rDNA clones displayed a higher diversity of Proteobacteria, including “uncultured” or “unknown” representatives from the Deltaproteobacteria. Arcobacterium, and Cyanobacteria were also found. We have also confirmed that Axinella sponges appeared to host specific microbial symbionts, similar to the previously identified clones termed “OSO” …

Reconstructing Twentieth-Century Sea Surface Temperature Variability In The Southwest Pacific: A Replication Study Using Multiple Coral Sr/Ca Records From New Caledonia, Kristine L. Delong, Terrence M. Quinn, Frederick W. Taylor

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Coral‐based climate reconstructions typically have not used multiple cores from a region to capture and replicate a climate signal largely because of concerns of coral conservation, analytical expense, and time constraints. Coral Sr/Ca reproducibility through the twentieth century was investigated using three intracolony and three intercolony coral records from the reefs offshore of Amédée Island, New Caledonia. Different sampling resolutions were examined in coral Sr/Ca (fortnightly and monthly) and δ¹⁸O (fortnightly, monthly, and seasonally) as well as similar scale subsampling of the daily in situ sea surface temperature (SST) record. The mean coral Sr/Ca, δ¹⁸O, and …

Evaluation Of Methods To Enhance Reef Restoration, David S. Gilliam, Alison L. Moulding, Vladimir N. Kosmynin, Vanessa I. P. Brinkhuis, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The coral reefs of southeast Florida are offshore a highly urbanized area with a population exceeding 5 million people and three major shipping ports with over 6000 ships calling on an annual basis. Reef injury events are common and have been caused by ship groundings and marine construction activities such as channel dredging and cable placement. Restoration activities generally only include the reattachment of dislodged stony corals, removal of rubble, and boulder stabilization. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has recognized these limited activities and is collaborating with Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center to study ways to accelerate coral reef …

Analysis Of Factors Influencing Southeast Florida Coral Reef Community Composition, M. A. Phillips, David S. Gilliam, L. K. B. Jordan, Richard E. Dodge, Louis E. Fisher

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The southeast Florida reef system lies offshore a heavily populated and urbanized coast. These high latitude reefs are not only affected by their geography but also by anthropogenic factors that accompany an urban area such as dredging activities, ship groundings, waste water outfalls, runoff and beach erosion. Sedimentation has been shown to influence stony coral community composition including dominance, abundance, cover, diversity, and colony size. Using annual monitoring data collected since 2000, the southeastern Florida reef community is being analyzed to examine if and how sedimentation and other factors such as depth, distance from shore and distance from port channels …

The Phylum Cnidaria: A Review Of Phylogenetic Patterns And Diversity 300 Years After Linnaeus, Catherine S. Mcfadden, Marymegan Daly, Mercer R. Brugler, Paulyn Cartwright, Allen G. Collins, Michael N. Dawson, Daphne G. Fautin, Scott C. France, Dennis M. Opresko, Estefania Rodriguez, Sandra L. Romano, Joel L. Stake

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Systema Naturae includes representatives of every major lineage of the animal phylum Cnidaria. However, Linnaeus did not classify the members of the phylum as is now done, and the diversity of the group is not well represented. We contrast the Linnaean perspective on cnidarian diversity with the modern, phylogenetic perspective. For each order, we detail diversity at the family level, providing phylogenetic context where possible.

Coral-Based Climate Variability In The Western Pacific Warm Pool Since 1867, Terrence M. Quinn, Frederick W. Taylor, Thomas J. Crowley

Marine Science Faculty Publications

We have generated monthly resolved, stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) and Sr/Ca time series from a massive Porites coral from Rabaul (4°S, 152°E): a site located in the warmest sector of the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP). The coral δ¹⁸O and Sr/Ca time series are well correlated to each other and positive excursions in both records coincide with times of ENSO warm phase events. These time series contain abundant interannual variability that exhibits the well‐recognized pattern of low amplitude ENSO variation between ∼1920–1960 and high amplitude ENSO variation between 1880–1920 and 1960–1997. The …

Fractal Patterns Of Coral Communities: Evidence From Remote Sensing (Arabian Gulf, Dubai, U.A.E.), Samuel J. Purkis, Bernhard Riegl, Richard E. Dodge (Editor)

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

In this study, the spatial character of benthic communities is investigated in an Arabian Gulf shallow subtidal carbonate ramp setting, using IKONOS satellite imagery. The patchy distribution of three assemblages of live and dead corals on extensive (but also fragmented) hardground pavements was investigated using a variety of spatial statistics. It was found that the spatial expression of the benthic groups display characteristics that approximate to power-law distributions over several orders of magnitude to an extent that suggests fractal behaviour. Pronounced anisotropy was observed between the spatial patterns in the near-shore and off-shore region which is attributed to different mechanisms …

Interannual And Decadal Variability Of The Western Pacific Sea Surface Condition For The Years 1787-2000: Reconstruction Based On Stable Isotope Record From A Guam Coral, Ryuji Asami, Tsutomu Yamada, Yasufumi Iryu, Terrence M. Quinn, Christopher P. Meyer, Gustav Paulay

Marine Science Faculty Publications

We present a monthly resolved, 213‐year stable isotope time series from a coral from Guam (13°N, 145°E), which is located on the northern edge of the western Pacific warm pool. Oxygen isotopic composition of the coral skeleton (δ¹⁸O_coral) shows seasonal, interannual, and decadal variability, which documents significant oceanographic changes related to thermal and hydrologic variations in this region. The δ¹⁸O_coral anomaly reflects sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly and sea surface salinity (SSS) anomaly with significant r values of −0.69 and 0.49, respectively, which are strongly linked to oceanographic changes that occur during El …

Coral Recruitment Patterns In The Florida Keys, Alison L. Moulding

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

This study examines scleractinian zooxanthellate coral recruitment patterns in the Florida Keys to determine if differences in density or community composition exist between regions. From July to September 2002, nine patch reefs, three in each of the upper, middle and lower Keys, were surveyed for coral recruits (colonies <5 cm in diameter) using randomly placed quadrats and transects. Coral recruits were enumerated, measured, and identified to genus. Fourteen genera of corals were observed across all sites and ranged from five to 13 per site. Densities ranged from 6.29 ± 1.92 (mean ± SE) to 39.08 ± 4.53 recruits m-2, and there were significant site and regional differences in recruit densities. The density of recruits in the upper Keys was significantly lower than in the middle and lower Keys. In addition, the upper Keys were less diverse and had a different recruit size-frequency distribution. The majority of recruits were non-massive scleractinian species that contribute relatively little to overall reef-building processes, a finding that is similar to previous studies. Fewer recruits of massive species were found in the upper Keys compared to the middle and lower Keys. The recruitment patterns of the reefs in the upper Keys could potentially hinder their ability to recover from stress and disturbances.

A Fossil Coral Perspective On Western Tropical Pacific Climate Similar To 350 Ka, K. H. Kilbourne, Terrence M. Quinn, F. W. Taylor

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The nature of tropical climate variability ∼350 ka is addressed using δ¹⁸O and Sr/Ca records from a modern and a fossil coral from Vanuatu (southwestern tropical Pacific Ocean). Modern El Niño events at Vanuatu produce positive coral δ¹⁸O and Sr/Ca anomalies; similar anomalies observed in the fossil coral records suggest that El Niño was operative 350 kyr ago. Seasonal variations in coral Sr/Ca, a sea surface temperature (SST) proxy, have the same amplitude in both corals, whereas seasonal δ¹⁸O variations are smaller in the fossil coral than in the modern coral. This is consistent …