Parasite-host ecology: the limited impacts of an intimate enemy on host microbiomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Impacts of biotic stressors, such as consumers, on coral microbiomes have gained attention as corals decline worldwide. Corallivore feeding can alter coral microbiomes in ways that contribute to dysbiosis, but feeding strategies are diverse - complicating generalizations about the nature of consumer impacts on coral microbiomes.

Results

In field experiments, feeding by Coralliophila violacea, a parasitic snail that suppresses coral growth, altered the microbiome of its host, Porites cylindrica, but these impacts were spatially constrained. Alterations in microbial community composition and variability were largely restricted to snail feeding scars; basal or distal areas ~ 1.5 cm or 6-8 cm away, respectively, were largely unaltered. Feeding scars were enriched in t

SUBMITTER: Clements CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7807496 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature