Parrotfish predation drives distinct microbial communities in reef-building corals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Coral-associated microbial communities are sensitive to multiple environmental and biotic stressors that can lead to dysbiosis and mortality. Although the processes contributing to these microbial shifts remain inadequately understood, a number of potential mechanisms have been identified. For example, predation by various corallivore species, including ecologically-important taxa such as parrotfishes, may disrupt coral microbiomes via bite-induced transmission and/or enrichment of potentially opportunistic bacteria. Here, we used a combination of mesocosm experiments and field-based observations to investigate whether parrotfish corallivory can alter coral microbial assemblages directly and to identify the potentially relevant pathways (e.g. direct transmission) that ma

SUBMITTER: Ezzat L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7807759 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature