[Coral-List] New Publication

[Juan Carlos Marquez Hoyos]

Dear colleagues,
The following paper has been published:

Márquez, J.C. and S. Zea. 2012. Parrotfish mediation in coral mortality and bioerosion by the encrusting excavating sponge Cliona tenuis. Marine Ecology 33: 417–426. 

Please, feel free to wirte to me for a pdf.

Abstract
The parrotfish Sparisoma viride often grazes live coral from edges undermined
by the Caribbean encrusting and excavating sponge Cliona tenuis. To test
whether parrotfish biting action has an effect on the dynamics of the sponge–
coral interaction, we manipulated access of parrotfishes to the sponge–coral
border in two species of massive corals. When parrotfish had access to the border,
C. tenuis advanced significantly more slowly into the coral Siderastrea siderea
than into the coral Diploria strigosa. When fish bites were prevented,
sponge spread into S. siderea was further slowed down but remained the same
for D. strigosa. Additionally, a thinner layer of the outer coral skeleton was
removed by bioerosion when fish were excluded, a condition more pronounced
in D. strigosa than in S. siderea. Thus, the speed of sponge-spread and the
extent of bioerosion by parrotfish was coral species-dependent. It is hypothesized
that coral skeleton architecture is the main variable associated with such
dependency. Cliona tenuis spread is slow when undermining live S. siderea
owing to the coral’s compact skeleton. The coral’s smooth and hard surface
promotes a wide and shallow parrotfish bite morphology, which allows the
sponge to overgrow the denuded area and thus advance slightly faster. On the
less compact skeleton of the brain coral, D. strigosa, sponge spread is more
rapid. This coral’s rather uneven surface sustains narrower and deeper parrotfish
bites which do not facilitate the already fast sponge progress. Parrotfish
corallivory thus acts synergistically with C. tenuis to further harm corals whose
skeletal architecture slows sponge lateral spread. In addition, C. tenuis also
appears to mediate the predator–prey fish–coral interaction by attracting
parrotfish biting.


 
____________________________________________
Juan Carlos Márquez Hoyos, Ph.D
Tel: (57) 316 8700480
juancmarquezh at gmail.com
LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/juan-carlos-marquez/44/296/64
LinkedIn spanish: http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/juan-carlos-marquez/44/296/64/es