Microbial symbionts and ecological divergence of Caribbean sponges: A new perspective on an ancient association.

ABSTRACT: Marine sponges host diverse communities of microbial symbionts that expand the metabolic capabilities of their host, but the abundance and structure of these communities is highly variable across sponge species. Specificity in these interactions may fuel host niche partitioning on crowded coral reefs by allowing individual sponge species to exploit unique sources of carbon and nitrogen, but this hypothesis is yet to be tested. Given the presence of high sponge biomass and the coexistence of diverse sponge species, the Caribbean Sea provides a unique system in which to investigate this hypothesis. To test for ecological divergence among sympatric Caribbean sponges and investigate whether these trends are mediated by microbial symbionts, we measured stable isotope (δ¹³C and δ

SUBMITTER: Freeman CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7242429 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature