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Biodiversity of the community associated with Pocillopora verrucosa (Scleractinia: Pocilloporidae) in the Red Sea

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Abstract

The symbiotic community associated with a scleractinian coral Pocillopora verrucosa has been studied along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia from Al Wajh to the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. Forty colonies have been sampled from 2- to 15-m depth in 2 areas, southern and northern. Thirty-six associated species were found, including 15 symbionts and 21 species with uncertain status (SUS). The number of recorded symbiotic species was close to the statistically expected value, while SUS were rare and did not reach the value expected from the Chao 2 model. Species number and abundance positively correlated with the colony volume. Mean abundance of all species and symbionts and the number of SUS per covariate colony volume were higher in the northern area than in the southern area. This may be related to a higher habitat diversity of the surrounding reefs and to the presence of colonies with partially dead tissues in the north. These two factors have a weak impact on symbionts, but strongly affect SUS. The diversity of the pocilloporid-associated communities range from 36 to 127 species along the Indo-Pacific and Tropical East Pacific, with 9 to 19 of them being symbionts. The total species diversity varies owing to the SUS number, while the core of true symbionts includes much fewer species and is less variable. The diversity of Pocillopora symbionts in the Saudi Arabian coast (15 species) is among the highest for the studied areas in the Indo-Pacific.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly acknowledge the organizational support of the field team and particularly of Prof. Ali Al Aidaroos, leader of the Red Sea Biodiversity Survey 2013. Our gratitude extends to Dr. Konstantin Tkachenko for verification of the identification of host coral, Pocillopora verrucosa, and Dr. Zdenek Ďuriš for the identification of small palaemonid shrimps. Dr. Moritz Sonnewald kindly managed expedition data, organized the guest scientists' work at the Senckenberg Research Institute (SRI, Frankfurt, Germany), and provided a station map of Fig. 1. We also thank two reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions, Dr. Daniel Martin for fruitful discussion of the manuscript and stylistic suggestions, and Anya Zalota for correcting the English language of the final version.

The expedition resulted from the cooperation between the Faculty of Marine Sciences (FMS) of the King Abdulaziz University (KAU) at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the SRI within the framework of the Red Sea Biodiversity Project. Our work at the SRI were covered by a KAU GRANT (NO. “I/1/432-DSR”). The authors would like to thank KAU and SRI for technical and financial support. This work is also a contribution of the first author to the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant # 15-15-05865.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    T. A. Britayev & Y. V. Deart

  2. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    V. A. Spiridonov

  3. Faculty of Marine Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    M. El-Sherbiny

  4. Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt

    M. El-Sherbiny

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  1. T. A. Britayev
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  2. V. A. Spiridonov
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  3. Y. V. Deart
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  4. M. El-Sherbiny
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Correspondence to T. A. Britayev or V. A. Spiridonov.

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Communicated by M. Sonnewald

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Britayev, T.A., Spiridonov, V.A., Deart, Y.V. et al. Biodiversity of the community associated with Pocillopora verrucosa (Scleractinia: Pocilloporidae) in the Red Sea. Mar Biodiv 47, 1093–1109 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0759-3

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