Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Context-Dependent Effects of Symbiosis: Zoanthidea Colonization Generally Improves Demospongiae Condition in Native Habitats

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2012

Publication Title

Marine Biology

Keywords

Sponge, Reef crest, Relationship outcome, Host condition, Mangrove habitat

ISSN

0025-3162

Volume

159

Issue/No.

7

First Page

1429

Last Page

1438

Abstract

In order to reconcile existing data and hypotheses on the relationship outcomes of Caribbean Zoanthidea-Demospongiae symbioses, the context-dependent survival and growth (metrics of host sponge condition) were monitored for 8–12 months, with and without Zoanthidean symbionts, in native (coral reef) and novel (mangrove) habitats. Experiments repeated over space and time revealed significant positive effects of Zoanthidea colonization on metrics of host condition and indicated that the outcome of these symbioses can shift from mutualism to parasitism when transplanted to novel habitats. Although the precise mechanisms of the symbioses remain obscured and most of the species associations have not been examined, these experiments demonstrate an example where relationship outcomes are more conserved across their evolutionary history than host associations.

Comments

©Springer-Verlag 2012

Additional Comments

NSF grant #: OCE-0550599

ORCID ID

0000-0002-6485-6823

ResearcherID

M-7702-2013

DOI

10.1007/s00227-012-1919-4

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