Coral reefs are suffering a major decline due to the environmental constraints imposed by climate change. Over the last 20 years, three major coral bleaching events occurred in concomitance with anomalous heatwaves, provoking a severe loss of coral cover worldwide. The conservation strategies for preserving reefs, as they are implemented now, cannot cope with global climatic shifts. Consequently, researchers are advocating for preservation networks to be set‐up to reinforce coral adaptive potential. However, the main obstacle to this implementation is that studies on coral adaption are usually hard to generalize at the scale of a reef system. Here, we study the relationships between genotype frequencies and environmental characteristics of the sea (seascape genomics), in combination with connectivity analysis, to investigate the adaptive potential of a flagship coral species of the Ryukyu Archipelago (Japan). By associating genotype frequencies with descriptors of historical environmental conditions, we discovered six genomic regions hosting polymorphisms that might promote resistance against heat stress. Remarkably, annotations of genes in these regions were consistent with molecular roles associated with heat responses. Furthermore, we combined information on genetic and spatial distances between reefs to predict connectivity at a regional scale. The combination of these results portrayed the adaptive potential of this population: we were able to identify reefs carrying potential heat stress adapted genotypes and to understand how they disperse to neighbouring reefs. This information was summarized by objective, quantifiable and mappable indices covering the whole region, which can be extremely useful for future prioritization of reefs in conservation planning. This framework is transferable to any coral species on any reef system and therefore represents a valuable tool for empowering preservation efforts dedicated to the protection of coral reefs in warming oceans.

中文翻译：

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海景基因组学作为增强珊瑚礁保护策略的新工具：以西北太平洋鹿角珊瑚为例。


由于气候变化带来的环境限制，珊瑚礁正在大幅减少。过去20年来，伴随着异常热浪，发生了三起重大珊瑚白化事件，导致全球珊瑚覆盖面积严重丧失。目前实施的珊瑚礁保护策略无法应对全球气候变化。因此，研究人员主张建立保护网络以增强珊瑚的适应潜力。然而，这一实施的主要障碍是，关于珊瑚适应的研究通常很难在珊瑚礁系统的规模上推广。在这里，我们研究基因型频率与海洋环境特征（海景基因组学）之间的关系，并结合连通性分析，以研究琉球群岛（日本）旗舰珊瑚物种的适应潜力。通过将基因型频率与历史环境条件的描述符相关联，我们发现了六个基因组区域，其中存在可能促进对热应激的抵抗力的多态性。值得注意的是，这些区域的基因注释与热反应相关的分子作用一致。此外，我们结合了珊瑚礁之间的遗传和空间距离信息来预测区域尺度的连通性。这些结果的结合描绘了该种群的适应潜力：我们能够识别携带潜在的热应激适应基因型的珊瑚礁，并了解它们如何分散到邻近的珊瑚礁。这些信息是通过覆盖整个区域的客观、可量化和可绘制地图的指数进行总结的，这对于未来在保护规划中确定珊瑚礁的优先顺序非常有用。 该框架可适用于任何珊瑚礁系统上的任何珊瑚物种，因此是一个宝贵的工具，可以增强致力于在变暖的海洋中保护珊瑚礁的保护工作。