Age-Related Shifts in Bacterial Diversity in a Reef Coral.

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the relationship between microbial communities in differently sized colonies of the massive coral Coelastrea aspera at Phuket, Thailand where colony size could be used as a proxy for age. Results indicated significant differences between the bacterial diversity (ANOSIM, R = 0.76, p = 0.001) of differently sized colonies from the same intertidal reef habitat. Juvenile and small colonies (< 6 cm mean diam) harboured a lower bacterial richness than medium (~ 10 cm mean diam) and large colonies (> 28 cm mean diam). Bacterial diversity increased in a step-wise pattern from juveniles < small < medium colonies, which was then followed by a slight decrease in the two largest size classes. These changes appear to resemble a successional process which occurs over time, simila

SUBMITTER: Williams AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4689413 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature