![]() The distribution of CWCs is controlled i.a. CWCs sustain high levels of biodiversity and provide important nursery grounds for numerous benthic and fish species 1, 2, 3. Scleractinian cold-water corals (CWCs) are important ecosystem engineers providing a three-dimensional habitat in cold and deep waters comparable to the complexity of shallow tropical coral reefs. We found an inverse relationship between CWC fitness and environmental variability and propose to consider the high frequency fluctuations of abiotic and biotic factors to better predict the future of CWCs in a changing ocean. ![]() Surprisingly, corals exposed to lowest aragonite saturation (Ω arag < 1) and temperature (T < 12.0 ☌), but stable environmental conditions, at the deep station grew fastest and expressed the fittest phenotype. cross-transplanted) corals, demonstrating high phenotypic plasticity. Following transplantation, corals acclimated fast to the novel environment with no discernible difference between native and novel (i.e. Here, we combined year-long reciprocal transplantation experiments along natural oceanographic gradients with an in situ assessment of CWC fitness. ![]() This provides a rare opportunity to evaluate CWC fitness trade-offs in response to physico-chemical drivers and their variability. The stratified Chilean Comau Fjord sustains a dense population of the cold-water coral (CWC) Desmophyllum dianthus in aragonite supersaturated shallow and aragonite undersaturated deep water.
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