Characterisation of coral-associated bacterial communities in an urbanised marine environment shows strong divergence over small geographic scales

The coral holobiont contains a diverse community of bacteria that have been widely acknowledged as a major contributor in the maintenance of host health and in promoting reef resilience under changing environments. However, little is known regarding the spatial distribution of these communities or t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Coral reefs 2019-12, Vol.38 (6), p.1097-1106
Main Authors: Wainwright, Benjamin J., Afiq-Rosli, Lutfi, Zahn, Geoffrey L., Huang, Danwei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Changing environments
Communities
Community structure
Coral reef ecosystems
Coral reef restoration
Coral reefs
Divergence
Environmental changes
Environmental factors
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Life Sciences
Marine environment
Marine invertebrates
Microorganisms
Oceanography
Offshore
Offshore structures
Restoration
Spatial distribution
Surface currents
Transplants
Wind direction
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Summary:The coral holobiont contains a diverse community of bacteria that have been widely acknowledged as a major contributor in the maintenance of host health and in promoting reef resilience under changing environments. However, little is known regarding the spatial distribution of these communities or the processes and mechanisms that are responsible for creating these patterns. Here we show that bacterial communities associated with the reef-building coral, Pocillopora acuta , from nine offshore islands in an urbanised coral reef ecosystem (Singapore) can diverge sharply and are significantly different among sampling locations. We suggest that small-scale environmental factors such as prevailing surface currents and wind direction, even over short distances (
ISSN:0722-4028
1432-0975
DOI:10.1007/s00338-019-01837-1