TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term coral colonization by an excavating Caribbean sponge
AU - Marulanda-Gómez, Ángela
AU - López-Victoria, Mateo
AU - Zea, Sven
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 INVEMAR. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Dead Acropora palmata branches colonized by the excavating sponge Cliona tenuis are prone to dislodgement, breakage, and translocation during heavy surge and swell from storms or hurricanes, favoring the dispersion of this sponge. At Islas del Rosario (Colombia, Caribbean), adult C. tenuis carried by A. palmata fragments that fell onto live massive corals were able to colonize the new coral, subsequently killing live tissue of the newly invaded coral. Corals that recruited onto fallen A. palmata branches overgrown with adult C. tenuis were also invaded once the sponge reached their base. To determine if the incidence of this phenomenon has increased since 2002 when it was first documented, the mode and prevalence of colonization of corals by C. tenuis was again quantified in 2014 on the same reef. Although a trend is difficult to infer from two surveys, the number of coral colonies colonized by C. tenuis doubled by 2014, and new cases of colonization from sponge-carrying A. palmata branches were found. However, the frequency of colonization by adult sponges from A. palmata branches in 2014 was one-half to one-fifth lower than in 2002, demonstrating that other forms of colonization onto massive corals may be increasing, or that storms erase the evidence of adult colonization by translocating vector coral branches, as was observed in one monitored case of transmission. As time passes and the fragmentation and erosion of the reef increases, the evidence of colonization of stony corals by C. tenuis through A. palmata branches vanishes.
AB - Dead Acropora palmata branches colonized by the excavating sponge Cliona tenuis are prone to dislodgement, breakage, and translocation during heavy surge and swell from storms or hurricanes, favoring the dispersion of this sponge. At Islas del Rosario (Colombia, Caribbean), adult C. tenuis carried by A. palmata fragments that fell onto live massive corals were able to colonize the new coral, subsequently killing live tissue of the newly invaded coral. Corals that recruited onto fallen A. palmata branches overgrown with adult C. tenuis were also invaded once the sponge reached their base. To determine if the incidence of this phenomenon has increased since 2002 when it was first documented, the mode and prevalence of colonization of corals by C. tenuis was again quantified in 2014 on the same reef. Although a trend is difficult to infer from two surveys, the number of coral colonies colonized by C. tenuis doubled by 2014, and new cases of colonization from sponge-carrying A. palmata branches were found. However, the frequency of colonization by adult sponges from A. palmata branches in 2014 was one-half to one-fifth lower than in 2002, demonstrating that other forms of colonization onto massive corals may be increasing, or that storms erase the evidence of adult colonization by translocating vector coral branches, as was observed in one monitored case of transmission. As time passes and the fragmentation and erosion of the reef increases, the evidence of colonization of stony corals by C. tenuis through A. palmata branches vanishes.
KW - Acropora palmata
KW - Bioerosion
KW - Cliona tenuis
KW - Coral colonization
KW - Storms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091889845&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.25268/BIMC.INVEMAR.2020.49.1.776
DO - 10.25268/BIMC.INVEMAR.2020.49.1.776
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091889845
SN - 0122-9761
VL - 49
SP - 101
EP - 112
JO - Boletin de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras
JF - Boletin de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras
IS - 1
ER -