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Assemblage and interaction structure of the anemonefish-anemone mutualism across the Manado region of Sulawesi, Indonesia

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Abstract

The Manado area (Indonesia–North Sulawesi), a marine high diversity hot-spot, hosts 7 species of anemonefish (family Pomacentridae, subfamily Amphiprioniae) living in symbiosis with 9 species of sea anemones (family Stichodactylidae and Actiniidae). This high biological diversity −27% and 80%, respectively, of the total known diversity of anemonefish and sea anemones—allows us to test different hypotheses focused on the obligate mutualism between anemonefish and sea anemones. In the Manado area, species richness of anemones and anemonefish across several sites was not correlated, but all anemones contained at least one fish individual, and there was a strong positive correlation between the numbers of individual anemonefish and anemones. As expected, each fish species had a preferred anemone host; also a partial niche overlap (Pianka’s Index) was often detected. The analysis of unique species composition suggests that competition is not an important factor determining the presence or absence of particular combinations of either anemonefish or host anemones (no evidence of competitive exclusion). The NODF algorithm showed that, at both a regional and local scale, the interaction between anemonefish and host anemones is not significantly nested, as a result of a combination of local conditions with competition, forcing species that regionally are more generalist to become more specialist.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences of the Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, and in particular Prof. Siegfried Berhimpon, for the precious cooperation in making this work possible. During data collection we have been assisted by a team of volunteers, participating to the Darwineide program, promoted by the Civic Aquarium of Milan, Italy. The experiment complied with the current laws of Indonesia and with local regulations active in Bunaken National Marine Park. The authors thank the referees and the editor for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Padova, Via U. Bassi 58/B, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Francesco Ricciardi

  2. DiSMaR. Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131, Ancona, Italy

    Massimo Boyer

  3. Landscape and Biodiversity Research Group, School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, Newton Building, Avenue Campus, Northampton, NN2 6JD, UK

    Jeff Ollerton

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  1. Francesco Ricciardi
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  2. Massimo Boyer
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  3. Jeff Ollerton
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Correspondence to Francesco Ricciardi.

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Ricciardi, F., Boyer, M. & Ollerton, J. Assemblage and interaction structure of the anemonefish-anemone mutualism across the Manado region of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Environ Biol Fish 87, 333–347 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9606-0

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