The Effect of Thermal Stress on the Physiology and Bacterial Communities of Two Key Mediterranean Gorgonians.

ABSTRACT: Gorgonians are important habitat-providing species in the Mediterranean Sea, but their populations are declining due to microbial diseases and repeated mass mortality events caused by summer heat waves. Elevated seawater temperatures may impact the stress tolerance and disease resistance of gorgonians and lead to disturbances in their microbiota. However, our knowledge of the biological response of the gorgonian holobiont (i.e., the host and its microbiota) to thermal stress remains limited. Here, we investigated how the holobiont of two gorgonian species (Paramuricea clavata and Eunicella cavolini) are affected throughout a 7-week thermal stress event by following both the corals' physiology and the composition of their bacterial communities. We found that P. clava

SUBMITTER: Tignat-Perrier R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8939326 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature