Seaweed-coral competition in the field: effects on coral growth, photosynthesis and microbiomes require direct contact.

ABSTRACT: A number of tropical reefs have transitioned from coral to macroalgal dominance, but the role of macroalgal competition in coral decline is debated. There is a need to understand the relative roles of direct coral-algal effects versus indirect, microbially mediated effects shaping these interactions, as well as the relevant scales at which interactions operate under natural field, as opposed to laboratory, conditions. We conducted a manipulative field experiment investigating how direct contact versus close proximity (approx. 1.5 cm) with macroalgae (Galaxaura rugosa, Sargassum polycystum) impacted the growth, photosynthetic efficiency, and prokaryotic microbiome of the common Indo-Pacific coral Acropora millepora. Both coral growth and photosynthetic efficiency were s

SUBMITTER: Clements CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287371 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature