Stylophora pistillata — a model colonial species in basic and applied studies
Shefy, D.; Rinkevich, B. (2022). Stylophora pistillata — a model colonial species in basic and applied studies, in: Boutet, A. et al. Handbook of marine model organisms in experimental biology: established and emerging. pp. 195-216. https://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781003217503-11 In: Boutet, A.; Schierwater, B. (2022). Handbook of marine model organisms in experimental biology: established and emerging. CRC Press/Taylor & Francis: Boca Raton, London. ISBN 978-1-032-10883-4; e-ISBN 978-1-003-21750-3. XIII, 471 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781003217503, more |  |
| Keywords | Stylophora pistillata (Esper, 1792) [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal |
| Abstract | Stylophora pistillata is a hermatypic branching coral, commonly found in the Indo-Pacific reefs. Being an important “reef builder” and an ecological engineering species, Stylophora serves as a natural home and shelter for many invertebrates and fish species. In the last five decades, S. pistillata has emerged as a model organism in various marine biology disciplines. These disciplines include some applied approaches such as reef restoration and coral adaptation in the face of climate change. Studies established this species as a model case in reproduction features associated with brooding coral species, including reproductive seasonality, larval biology and ecology, the study of coral holobionts (algal–animal symbiosis), coral physiology including coral calcification and cell cultures from marine cnidaria and as a leading species for studies on coral allorecognition and colonial pattern formation, including astogeny. Following Stylophora’s genome sequencing, this species became one of the leading species in the coral–molecular biology interface. This chapter reviews these biological and ecological aspects and elucidates three challenging topics in the research, S. pistillata taxonomy in the face of several ecomorphs and elucidation of aging and the nature of the species’ symbiotic relationships with diverse reef organisms. |
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