Reproductive plasticity in the reef coral Echinopora lamellosa

The reproductive timing and mature egg size of the reef coral Echinopora la mellosa were different between the northern Taiwan and southern Taiwan popu lations. A reciprocal transplant experiment was conducted to study the infl uences of environment on the observed differences in reproductive traits be tween the 2 populations. The reproductive timing of the transplanted coloni es in southern Taiwan and mature egg size of the transplanted colonies in b oth northern and southern Taiwan changed, compared to those of the original populations. This suggests that these reproductive trails are plastic and environmental factors may play an important role in regulating them. Furthe rmore, the growth of early stage oocytes was faster and the spawning began 2 mo earlier in the transplanted southern Taiwan colonies than those of the original populations in northern Taiwan. This suggests that the timing of reproductive activity of the transplanted E. lamellosa in southern Taiwan m ay be accelerated by the warmer seawater temperature.