Determination of clades of symbiotic algae of singapore’s corals and their role in determining thermal tolerance.

Coral bleaching is the loss of pigmentation contributed by the algal symbionts of the genus Symbiodinium present in corals. The degradation of corals through this phenomenon has an environmental and economic impact on the world. Studies have shown an increase in frequency of bleaching events with the global increase in seawater temperatures. There has been continuous interest in establishing the upper thermal limits of corals to understand their capacity to withstand global warming. In addition, variation of bleaching susceptibility observed within and between coral species has led to the study on the possible connection between relative bleaching susceptibility and algal symbionts. An aquarium experiment was conducted to establish the upper thermal limits of corals, Pocillopora damicornis and Porites lutea, in Singapore. Although the upper thermal limits of the corals were not established, this study enlightens one on the possible improvements of the experimental design for subsequent studies and shows that Porites is less susceptible to bleaching than Pocillopora, the same observation as mentioned in past studies.Bachelor of Science in Biological Science