Marine sponges maintain stable bacterial communities between reef sites with different coral to algae cover ratios.

ABSTRACT: Marine sponges play a major ecological role in recycling resources on coral reef ecosystems. The cycling of resources may largely depend on the stability of the host-microbiome interactions and their susceptibility to altered environmental conditions. Given the current coral to algal phase shift on coral reefs, we investigated whether the sponge-associated bacterial communities of four sponge species, with either high or low microbial abundances (HMA and LMA), remain stable at two reefs sites with different coral to algae cover ratios. Additionally, we assessed the bacterial community composition of two of these sponge species before and after a reciprocal transplantation experiment between the sites. An overall stable bacterial community composition was maintained across the two sites in

SUBMITTER: Campana S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8378938 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature