Marine Laboratory, University of Guam, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam.
School of Science, Technology, and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia.
PLoS One. 2022 Jul 22;17(7):e0271438. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271438. eCollection 2022.
Successful recruitment of invertebrate larvae to reef substrates is essential to the health of tropical coral reef ecosystems and to their capacity to recover from disturbances. Crustose calcifying red algae (CCRA) are a species rich group of seaweeds that have been identified as important recruitment substrates for scleractinian corals. Most studies on the settlement preference of coral larvae on CCRA use morphological species identifications that can lead to unreliable species identification and do not allow for examining species-specific interactions between coral larvae and CCRA. Accurate identifications of CCRA species is important for coral reef restoration and management to assess CCRA community composition and to detect CCRA species that are favored as coral recruitment substrates. In this study, DNA sequence analysis, was used to identify CCRA species to (1) investigate the species richness and community composition of CCRA on experimental coral recruitment tiles and (2) assess if the coral Acropora surculosa preferred any of these CCRA species as recruitment substrates. The CCRA community assemblages on the coral recruitment tiles was species-rich, comprising 27 distinct CCRA species of the orders Corallinales and Peyssonneliales which constitute new species records for Guam. Lithophylloideae sp. 1 (Corallinales) was the CCRA species that was significantly favored by coral larvae as a recruitment substrate. Lithophylloideae sp. 1 showed to hold a valuable ecological role for coral larval recruitment preference. Lithophylloideae sp. 1 had the highest benthic cover on the recruitment tiles and contained most A. surculosa recruits. DNA barcoding revealed a high taxonomic diversity of CCRA species on a microhabitat scale and provided detailed insight into the species-specific ecological interactions between CCRA and corals. With a steady decline in coral cover, detailed information on species interactions that drive reef recovery is valuable for the planning of marine management actions and restoration efforts.
成功地将无脊椎动物幼虫吸引到珊瑚礁基质上，对于热带珊瑚礁生态系统的健康及其从干扰中恢复的能力至关重要。 石莼状钙化红藻（CCRA）是一种物种丰富的海藻群，已被确定为硬珊瑚珊瑚幼虫的重要繁殖基质。 大多数关于珊瑚幼虫在 CCRA 上的定居偏好的研究都使用形态学物种鉴定，这可能导致不可靠的物种鉴定，并且不允许检查珊瑚幼虫和 CCRA 之间的特定物种相互作用。 CCRA 物种的准确鉴定对于珊瑚礁恢复和管理很重要，可用于评估 CCRA 群落组成，并检测作为珊瑚幼虫繁殖基质的 CCRA 物种。 在这项研究中，使用 DNA 序列分析来鉴定 CCRA 物种，以（1）调查实验性珊瑚繁殖瓦片上的 CCRA 物种丰富度和群落组成，以及（2）评估珊瑚 Acropora surculosa 是否偏爱这些 CCRA 物种中的任何一种作为繁殖基质。 珊瑚繁殖瓦片上的 CCRA 群落种类丰富，包括 27 种不同的 CCRA 物种，这些物种属于 Peyssonneliales 和 Corallinales 目，是关岛的新物种记录。 Lithophylloideae sp. 1（Corallinales）是珊瑚幼虫作为繁殖基质的明显偏好物种。 Lithophylloideae sp. 1 表现出对珊瑚幼虫繁殖偏好的宝贵生态作用。 Lithophylloideae sp. 1 在繁殖瓦片上的底栖覆盖面积最大，并且包含大多数 A. surculosa 幼体。 DNA 条形码揭示了微生境尺度上 CCRA 物种的高分类多样性，并提供了有关 CCRA 和珊瑚之间特定物种生态相互作用的详细信息。 随着珊瑚覆盖率的稳步下降，有关推动珊瑚礁恢复的物种相互作用的详细信息对于规划海洋管理行动和恢复工作很有价值。
