以色列特拉维夫大学Yossi Loya团队发现珊瑚同步产卵的方式瓦解，威胁其群体存活。相关论文发表在2019年9月6日出版的《科学》上。

他们量化了四个生殖季节期间的珊瑚产卵强度，以及息肉、群体和种群水平的实验分析，并且证明，与历史数据相比，来自红海的几个物种已失去其繁殖同步性。最终，这种同步性的瓦解降低了成功受精的可能性，导致新成员的缺乏，这可能会导致群体衰老，甚至濒临灭绝。

据了解，人类和自然对珊瑚礁的干扰通常通过可见的损害来量化（例如，由于漂白事件导致珊瑚覆盖率降低），但环境条件的变化也可能以不太明显的方式对其造成伤害。 尽管目前的范例表明存在一致的、高度同步的产卵事件，但是通过撒播方式繁殖的珊瑚特别容易受到伤害，因为它们的生殖物候受到环境因素的影响。

附：英文原文

Title: Breakdown in spawning synchrony: A silent threat to coral persistence

Author: Tom Shlesinger, Yossi Loya

Issue&Volume:Volume 365 Issue 6457

Abstract: The impacts of human and natural disturbances on coral reefs are typically quantified through visible damage (e.g., reduced coral coverage as a result of bleaching events), but changes in environmental conditions may also cause damage in less visible ways. Despite the current paradigm, which suggests consistent, highly synchronized spawning events, corals that reproduce by broadcast spawning are particularly vulnerable because their reproductive phenology is governed by environmental cues. Here, we quantify coral spawning intensity during four annual reproductive seasons, alongside laboratory analyses at the polyp, colony, and population levels, and we demonstrate that, compared with historical data, several species from the Red Sea have lost their reproductive synchrony. Ultimately, such a synchrony breakdown reduces the probability of successful fertilization, leading to a dearth of new recruits, which may drive aging populations to extinction.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aax0110

Source:https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6457/1002