Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals

The morphological plasticity and community responses of algae competing with corals have not been assessed. We evaluated eight morphological characters of four species of stoloniferous clonal filamentous turf algae (FTA), including Lophosiphonia cristata (Lc) and Polysiphonia scopulorum var. villum...

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Main Authors:	Cetz-Navarro, Neidy P., Quan-Young, Lizette I., Espinoza-Avalos, Julio
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4525492/

id	pubmed-4525492
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-45254922015-08-06 Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals Cetz-Navarro, Neidy P. Quan-Young, Lizette I. Espinoza-Avalos, Julio Article The morphological plasticity and community responses of algae competing with corals have not been assessed. We evaluated eight morphological characters of four species of stoloniferous clonal filamentous turf algae (FTA), including Lophosiphonia cristata (Lc) and Polysiphonia scopulorum var. villum (Psv), and the composition and number of turf algae (TA) in competition for space with the coral Orbicella spp. under experimental and non-manipulated conditions. All FTA exhibited morphological responses, such as increasing the formation of new ramets (except for Psv when competing with O. faveolata). Opposite responses in the space between erect axes were found when Psv competed with O. faveolata and when Lc competed with O. annularis. The characters modified by each FTA species, and the number and composition of TA species growing next to coral tissue differed from that of the TA growing at ≥3 cm. The specific and community responses indicate that some species of TA can actively colonise coral tissue and that fundamental competitive interactions between the two types of organisms occur within the first millimetres of the coral−algal boundary. These findings suggest that the morphological plasticity, high number, and functional redundancy of stoloniferous TA species favour their colonisation of coral tissue and resistance against coral invasion. Nature Publishing Group 2015-08-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4525492/ /pubmed/26244816 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep12814 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Cetz-Navarro, Neidy P. Quan-Young, Lizette I. Espinoza-Avalos, Julio
spellingShingle	Cetz-Navarro, Neidy P. Quan-Young, Lizette I. Espinoza-Avalos, Julio Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
author_facet	Cetz-Navarro, Neidy P. Quan-Young, Lizette I. Espinoza-Avalos, Julio
author_sort	Cetz-Navarro, Neidy P.
title	Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
title_short	Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
title_full	Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
title_fullStr	Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
title_full_unstemmed	Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
title_sort	morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals
description	The morphological plasticity and community responses of algae competing with corals have not been assessed. We evaluated eight morphological characters of four species of stoloniferous clonal filamentous turf algae (FTA), including Lophosiphonia cristata (Lc) and Polysiphonia scopulorum var. villum (Psv), and the composition and number of turf algae (TA) in competition for space with the coral Orbicella spp. under experimental and non-manipulated conditions. All FTA exhibited morphological responses, such as increasing the formation of new ramets (except for Psv when competing with O. faveolata). Opposite responses in the space between erect axes were found when Psv competed with O. faveolata and when Lc competed with O. annularis. The characters modified by each FTA species, and the number and composition of TA species growing next to coral tissue differed from that of the TA growing at ≥3 cm. The specific and community responses indicate that some species of TA can actively colonise coral tissue and that fundamental competitive interactions between the two types of organisms occur within the first millimetres of the coral−algal boundary. These findings suggest that the morphological plasticity, high number, and functional redundancy of stoloniferous TA species favour their colonisation of coral tissue and resistance against coral invasion.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4525492/
_version_	1613256018963202048

Morphological and community changes of turf algae in competition with corals

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