RESUMEN
Global warming is leading to increases in tropical storms' frequency and intensity, allowing fragmentation of reef-forming coral species, but also to coral bleaching and mortality. The first level of organism's response to an environmental perturbation occurs at the cellular level. This study investigated the long-term oxidative stress on fragments of nine Indo-Pacific reef-forming coral species exposed for 60 days to increasing temperatures (30⯰C and 32⯰C) and compared results with control temperature (26⯰C). Coral overall condition (appearance), lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase activity (CAT), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were assessed. The species Turbinaria reniformis, Galaxea fascicularis, and Psammocora contigua were the most resistant to heat stress, presenting no oxidative damage at 30⯰C. Unlike G. fasciularis, both T. reniformis and P. contigua showed no evidence of oxidative damage at 32⯰C. All remaining species' fragments died at 32⯰C. Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora damicornis were the most susceptible species to heat stress, not resisting at 30⯰C.