Octocoral Species Assembly and Coexistence in Caribbean Coral Reefs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

What are the determinant factors of community assemblies in the most diverse ecosystem in the ocean? Coral reefs can be divided in continental (i.e., reefs that develop on the continental shelf, including siliciclastic reefs) and oceanic (i.e., far off the continental shelf, usually on volcanic substratum); whether or not these habitat differences impose community-wide ecological divergence or species exclusion/coexistence with evolutionary consequences, is unknown.

Methods

Studying Caribbean octocorals as model system, we determined the phylogenetic community structure in a coral reef community, making emphasis on species coexistence evidenced on trait evolution and environmental feedbacks. Forty-nine species represented in five families constituted the species p

SUBMITTER: Velasquez J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4503594 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature