Disentangling the complex microbial community of coral reefs using standardized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS).
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Pearman, John K.
Aylagas, Eva

Voolstra, Christian R.

Anlauf, Holger
Villalobos, Rodrigo
Carvalho, Susana

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2019-08Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/656452
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Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) have been applied worldwide to describe eukaryotic cryptic reef fauna. Conversely, bacterial communities, which are critical components of coral reef ecosystem functioning, remain largely overlooked. Here we deployed 56 ARMS across the 2,000-km spread of the Red Sea to assay biodiversity, composition and inferred underlying functions of coral reef-associated bacterial communities via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that bacterial community structure and diversity aligned with environmental differences. Indeed, sea surface temperature and macroalgae cover were key in explaining bacterial relative abundance. Importantly, taxonomic and functional alpha diversity decreased under more extreme environmental conditions (e.g., higher temperatures) in the southern Red Sea. This may imply a link between bacterial community diversity and functional capabilities, with implications for conservation management. Our study demonstrates the utility of ARMS to investigate the response of coral reef-associated bacterial communities to environmental change.Citation
Pearman, J. K., Aylagas, E., Voolstra, C. R., Anlauf, H., Villalobos, R., & Carvalho, S. (2019). Disentangling the complex microbial community of coral reefs using standardized Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). Molecular Ecology. doi:10.1111/mec.15167Sponsors
We are grateful to the personnel from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab for logistical support as well as to the crew of RV Thuwal. In addition, we thank Katherine Rowe, Joanne Ellis, Amr Gusti, Giuseppe Merlino, Aislinn Dunne, Florian Roth, Joao Curdia, Zahra Alsaffar, Alejandro Restrepo, Perdana Prihartato, and members of the Red Sea Research Center summer student programme 2017 for their help with sample processing. The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from a collaboration between KAUST and Saudi Aramco within the framework of the Saudi Aramco – KAUST Center for Marine Environmental Observations. We would also like to express our gratitude to the three reviewers and the editor who made valuable contributions to improving the manuscript.Publisher
WileyJournal
Molecular ecologyAdditional Links
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.15167Relations
Is Supplemented By:- [Bioproject]
Title: Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structure Red Sea Latitudinal Raw ReadsPublication Date: 2018-07-05. bioproject: PRJNA479721 Handle: 10754/666718
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/mec.15167
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