The alarming rate of climate change demands new management strategies to protect coral reefs. Environments such as mangrove lagoons, characterized by extreme variations in multiple abiotic factors, are viewed as potential sources of stress-tolerant corals for strategies such as assisted evolution and coral propagation. However, biological trade-offs for adaptation to such extremes are poorly known. Here, we investigate the reef-building coral Porites lutea thriving in both mangrove and reef sites and show that stress-tolerance comes with compromises in genetic and energetic mechanisms and skeletal characteristics. We observe reduced genetic diversity and gene expression variability in mangrove corals, a disadvantage under future harsher selective pressure. We find reduced density, thickness and higher porosity in coral skeletons from mangroves, symptoms of metabolic energy redirection to stress response functions. These findings demonstrate the need for caution when utilizing stress-tolerant corals in human interventions, as current survival in extremes may compromise future competitive fitness.

气候变化的惊人速度需要新的管理策略来保护珊瑚礁。红树林泻湖等环境以多种非生物因素的极端变化为特征，被视为耐压珊瑚的潜在来源，可用于辅助进化和珊瑚繁殖等策略。然而，人们对适应这种极端情况的生物权衡却知之甚少。在这里，我们研究了在红树林和珊瑚礁地点繁衍生息的造礁珊瑚黄滨珊瑚，结果表明，压力耐受性伴随着遗传和能量机制以及骨骼特征的妥协。我们观察到红树林珊瑚的遗传多样性和基因表达变异性降低，这在未来更严酷的选择压力下是一个劣势。我们发现红树林珊瑚骨骼的密度、厚度降低和孔隙率更高，这是代谢能量重新定向到应激反应功能的症状。这些发现表明，在人类干预中使用耐压珊瑚时需要谨慎，因为当前的极端生存可能会损害未来的竞争能力。