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Lookup NU author(s): Professor John BythellORCiD, Emeritus Professor Barbara Brown, Emeritus Professor Thomas Kirkwood
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Hydra is emerging as a model organism for studies of ageing in early metazoan animals, but reef corals offer an equally ancient evolutionary perspective as well as several advantages, not least being the hard exoskeleton which provides a rich fossil record as well as a record of growth and means of ageing of individual coral polyps. Reef corals are also widely regarded as potentially immortal at the level of the asexual lineage and are assumed not to undergo an intrinsic ageing process. However, putative molecular indicators of ageing have recently been detected in reef corals. While many of the large massive coral species attain considerable ages (>600 years) there are other much shorter-lived species where older members of some populations show catastrophic mortality, compared to juveniles, under environmental stress. Other studies suggestive of ageing include those demonstrating decreased reproduction, increased susceptibility to oxidative stress and disease, reduced regeneration potential and declining growth rate in mature colonies. This review aims to promote interest and research in reef coral ageing, both as a useful model for the early evolution of ageing and as a factor in studies of ecological impacts on reef systems in light of the enhanced effects of environmental stress on ageing in other organisms.
Author(s): Bythell JC, Brown BE, Kirkwood TBL
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Biological Reviews
Year: 2018
Volume: 93
Issue: 2
Pages: 1192-1202
Print publication date: 01/05/2018
Online publication date: 28/12/2017
Acceptance date: 23/11/2017
Date deposited: 09/01/2018
ISSN (electronic): 1469-185X
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12391
DOI: 10.1111/brv.12391
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