[Coral-List] New article on parrotfish mediation on sponge-coral interactions
Juan Carlos Marquez Hoyos
juanitomarquez at yahoo.com
Wed Jan 25 08:38:04 EST 2012
Dear colleagues:
Let me draw your attention on the online version of a new article:
Juan C. Márquez, Sven Zea. 2012. Parrotfish mediation in coral mortality and bioerosion by the encrusting, excavating sponge Cliona tenuis. Marine Ecology. Article first published online: 23 JAN 2012,
DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2011.00506.x
You may access it in:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2011.00506.x/abstract
If you do not have Access, write me back and I will send you a pdf.
Abstract
The parrotfish Sparisoma viride often grazes live coral from edges undermined by the Caribbean encrusting and excavating sponge Cliona tenuis. To test whether parrotfish biting action has an effect on the dynamics
of the sponge–coral interaction, we manipulated access of parrotfishes
to the sponge–coral border in two species of massive corals. When
parrotfish had access to the border, C. tenuis advanced significantly more slowly into the coral Siderastrea siderea than into the coral Diploria strigosa. When fish bites were prevented, sponge spread into S. siderea was further slowed down but remained the same for D. strigosa. Additionally, a thinner layer of the outer coral skeleton was removed
by bioerosion when fish were excluded, a condition more pronounced in D. strigosa than in S. siderea. Thus, the speed of sponge-spread and the extent of bioerosion by
parrotfish was coral species-dependent. It is hypothesized that coral
skeleton architecture is the main variable associated with such
dependency. Cliona tenuis spread is slow when undermining live S. siderea owing to the coral’s compact skeleton. The coral’s smooth and hard
surface promotes a wide and shallow parrotfish bite morphology, which
allows the sponge to overgrow the denuded area and thus advance slightly faster. On the less compact skeleton of the brain coral, D. strigosa, sponge spread is more rapid. This coral’s rather uneven surface
sustains narrower and deeper parrotfish bites which do not facilitate
the already fast sponge progress. Parrotfish corallivory thus acts
synergistically with C. tenuis to further harm corals whose skeletal architecture slows sponge lateral spread. In addition, C. tenuis also appears to mediate the predator–prey fish–coral interaction by attracting parrotfish biting.
____________________________________________
Juan C. Márquez, Ph.D.
McMaster University, Department of Biology
Life Sciences Building, Rm. 302
1280 Main St. West, Hamilton ON Canada L8S 4K1
Phone: 905.525.9140 Ext. 23041
Fax: 905.522.6066
juancmarquezh at gmail.com
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