SYSTEMATICS OF THE CORAL GENUS ACROPORA - IMPLICATIONS OF NEW BIOLOGICAL FINDINGS FOR SPECIES CONCEPTS

The large coral genus Acropora occurs throughout the world's reefs and is potentially a model for evolution and development of modern reef faunas. New research including breeding trials and genetic analyses of sympatric populations of Acropora and other corals is suggesting misalignments of breeding, morphological and genetic boundaries such that species limits may be sometimes narrower, sometimes broader, than presently perceived. Ongoing biogeographic and phylogenetic analyses are reexamining coral species in space and time and generating hypotheses about the origination of species. Synthesis of new findings from these research areas with preliminary insights from molecular data on species boundaries and phylogenies is allowing assessment of the current taxonomic framework of Acropora and of the order Scleractinia. The tacit assumption that currently defined coral species encompass biological, evolutionary, and phylogenetic species concepts may be unfounded.