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    Carbon Flux Through the Giant Barrel Sponge Xestospongia testudinaria in the Red Sea

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    WoosterThesis_KAUSTsubmission.pdf
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    WoosterThesis_KAUSTsubmission
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    Type
    Thesis
    Authors
    Wooster, Michael cc
    Advisors
    Berumen, Michael L. cc
    Committee members
    Moran, Xose Anxelu G. cc
    Ravasi, Timothy cc
    Program
    Marine Science
    KAUST Department
    Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
    Date
    2017-11
    Embargo End Date
    2019-05-16
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/10754/627888
    
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    Access Restrictions
    At the time of archiving, the student author of this thesis opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this thesis became available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2019-05-16.
    Abstract
    Sponges have important ecological functions on coral reefs because they are regionally abundant, competitively dominant, and process large volumes of seawater. The sponge loop hypothesis proposes that sponges consume dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and then releases the carbon as shed cellular detritus back to the reef benthos. Within this context, we examined the carbon flux mediated by the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia testudinaria, on reefs in the Red Sea, where sponge abundance is comparatively low relative to coral reefs elsewhere, such as the Caribbean. Seawater samples were collected from the incurrent and excurrent (In-Ex) flow of 40 sponges from inshore, mid-shelf, and offshore reefs between 18° and 22°N latitude off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Concentrations of DOC and living particulate organic carbon (LPOC) were significantly higher in incurrent (ambient) seawater on inshore reefs than mid-shelf and offshore reefs. Consistent with studies of X. muta in the Caribbean, the diet of X. testudinaria is comprised primarily of DOC; mean values of the nutritional components across all sites were 60.5% DOC, 35.7% detritus, and 3.8% LPOC. Taking into account the specific filtration rates of nutritional components and oxygen consumption of sponges across the inshore-offshore gradient, there is evidence (1) of a threshold concentration of DOC below which sponges cease to be net consumers of DOC, and (2) that sponges on offshore reefs are food-limited. Contrary to the sponge loop hypothesis, there was no evidence that X. testudinaria, returned DOC to the benthos in the form of detritus, but was, instead, a net consumer of detritus from the water column. Unlike the cryptic, interstitial sponges that were studied to advance the sponge-loop hypothesis, emergent sponges may have an alternate pathway for returning DOC to the benthos by converting it to sponge biomass rather than sponge detritus.
    Citation
    Wooster, M. (2017). Carbon Flux Through the Giant Barrel Sponge Xestospongia testudinaria in the Red Sea. KAUST Research Repository. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-19Y99
    DOI
    10.25781/KAUST-19Y99
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    10.25781/KAUST-19Y99
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division; Marine Science Program; Theses; Theses

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