Resilience of coral-associated bacterial communities exposed to fish farm effluent.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The coral holobiont includes the coral animal, algal symbionts, and associated microbial community. These microbes help maintain the holobiont homeostasis; thus, sustaining robust mutualistic microbial communities is a fundamental part of long-term coral reef survival. Coastal pollution is one major threat to reefs, and intensive fish farming is a rapidly growing source of this pollution.

Methodology & principal findings

We investigated the susceptibility and resilience of the bacterial communities associated with a common reef-building coral, Porites cylindrica, to coastal pollution by performing a clonally replicated transplantation experiment in Bolinao, Philippines adjacent to intensive fish farming. Ten fragments from each of four colonies (total of 40 fragme

SUBMITTER: Garren M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2751826 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature