Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T14:07:06.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships between boring sponge assemblages and the availability of dead coral substrate on Mexican Pacific coral reefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2018

Héctor Nava Open the ORCID record for Héctor Nava [Opens in a new window] ,
Carlos Alberto Emmanuel García-Madrigal  and
José Luis Carballo
Héctor Nava*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoología, Laboratorio de Biodiversidad Marina, Instituto de Investigaciones sobre los Recursos Naturales, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, México
Carlos Alberto Emmanuel García-Madrigal
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoología, Laboratorio de Biodiversidad Marina, Instituto de Investigaciones sobre los Recursos Naturales, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, México
José Luis Carballo
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mazatlán, Mexico
*
Author for correspondence: Héctor Nava, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Boring sponges are an important component of bioeroder assemblages in tropical coral reefs. They are considered as a potential threat for coral reef health, and the increase of dead corals is expected to promote their abundance. The relationship between the availability of dead coral substrata and the development of boring sponge assemblages was evaluated during El Niño 2015–16 at five reefs from Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico. Environment and substrate quality were assessed. Overall, environment conditions remained normal in relation to previous studies in the area. Only water temperature showed unusually high records at all sites and coincided with bleaching and mortality of corals, possibly caused by the effects of the El Niño event. Abundance of boring sponges in dead corals and coral rubble was lower than during previous studies. Although sponge abundance was not directly related to cover of both dead corals and coral rubble, cover of dead corals showed a high correlation with the variation in the structure of sponge assemblages across sites. Cliona vermifera dominated sponge assemblages at all sites, and its abundance was high under conditions of high cover of live corals and low cover of bleached corals. Since overall sponge abundance responded in a similar way, these results suggest that boring sponge assemblages dominated by C. vermifera are enhanced by conditions favourable for corals. Our results imply that El Niño events in the Mexican Pacific are not likely to cause immediate population outbreaks of boring sponges.

Keywords

Bioerosioncoral mortalitycoral reefsEl NiñoPorifera
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 99 , Issue 4 , June 2019 , pp. 795 - 805
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarado, JJ, Grassian, B, Cantera-Kintz, JR, Carballo, JL and Londoño-Cruz, E (2017) Coral reef bioerosion in the eastern tropical Pacific. In Glynn, P, Manzello, D and Enochs, I (eds), Coral Reefs of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Coral Reefs of the World. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 369–403.Google Scholar
Bautista-Guerrero, E, Carballo, JL, Cruz-Barraza, JA and Nava, H (2006) New coral reef boring sponges (Hadromerida: Clionaidae) from the Mexican Pacific Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 86, 963–970.Google Scholar
Bautista-Guerrero, E, Carballo, JL and Maldonado, M (2014) Abundance and reproductive patterns of the excavating sponge Cliona vermifera: a threat to Pacific coral reefs. Coral Reefs 33, 259–266.Google Scholar
Bray, JR and Curtis, JT (1957) An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecological Monographs 27, 325–349.Google Scholar
Brown, BE (1997) Coral bleaching: causes and consequences. Coral Reefs 16, S129–S138.Google Scholar
Carballo, JL, Cruz-Barraza, JA and Gómez, P (2004) Taxonomy and description of clionaid sponges (Hadromerida, Clionaidae) from the Pacific Ocean of Mexico. Zoological Journal of Linnean Society 141, 353–397.Google Scholar
Carballo, JL, Hepburn, L, Nava, H, Cruz-Barraza, JA and Bautista-Guerrero, E (2007) Coral boring Aka-species (Porifera: Phloeodictyidae) from Mexico with description of Aka cryptica sp. nov. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 1477–1484.Google Scholar
Carballo, JL, Bautista-Guerrero, E and Leyte-Morales, GE (2008 a) Boring sponges and the modeling of coral reefs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series 356, 113–122.Google Scholar
Carballo, JL, Cruz-Barraza, JA, Nava, H and Bautista-Guerrero, E (2008 b) Esponjas perforadoras de sustratos calcáreos importancia en los ecosistemas arrecifales del pacífico este. México, DF: Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM).Google Scholar
Carballo, JL, Bautista-Guerrero, E, Nava, H and Cruz-Barraza, JA (2010) Cambio climático y ecosistemas costeros, bases fundamentales para la conservación de los arrecifes de coral del Pacífico este. In Hernández-Zanuy, A and Alcolado, PM (eds), La Biodiversidad en Ecosistemas Marinos y Costeros del Litoral de Iberoamérica yel Cambio Climático. Memorias del Primer Taller de la Red Cyted Biodivmar. La Habana: Instituto de Oceanología, pp. 183–193.Google Scholar
Carballo, JL, Bautista-Guerrero, E, Nava, H, Cruz-Barraza, JA and Chávez, JA (2013) Boring sponges, an increasing threat for coral reefs affected by bleaching events. Ecology and Evolution 3, 872–886.Google Scholar
Carriquiry, JD, Cupul-Magaña, AL, Rodríguez-Zaragoza, F and Medina-Rosas, P (2001) Coral bleaching and mortality in the Mexican Pacific during the 1997–98 El Niño and prediction from a remote sensing approach. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 237–249.Google Scholar
Chaves-Fonnegra, A, Zea, S and Gómez, ML (2007) Abundance of the excavating sponge Cliona delitrix in relation to sewage discharge at San Andrés Island, SW Caribbean, Colombia. Boletín de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras-INVEMAR 36, 63–78.Google Scholar
Clarke, KR and Ainsworth, M (1993) A method of linking multivariate community structure to environmental variables. Marine Ecology Progress Series 92, 205–219.Google Scholar
Clarke, KR and Warwick, RM (1994) Similarity-based testing for community pattern: the two-way layout with no replication. Marine Biology 118, 167–176.Google Scholar
Cortés, J and Risk, MJ (1985) A reef under siltation stress: Cahuita, Costa Rica. Bulletin of Marine Science 36, 339–356.Google Scholar
Cortés, J, Murillo, MM, Guzmán, HM and Acuña, J (1984) Pérdida de zooxantelas y muerte de corales y otros organismos arrecifales en el Caribe y Pacífico de Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical 32, 227–231.Google Scholar
Cruz-Barraza, JA, Carballo, JL, Bautista-Guerrero, E and Nava, H (2011) New species of excavating sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae) on coral reefs from the Mexican Pacific Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 91, 999–1013.Google Scholar
Eakin, CM (2001) A tale of two ENSO events: carbonate budgets and the influence of two warming disturbances and intervening variability, Uva Island, Panama. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 171–186.Google Scholar
Enochs, IC, Manzello, DP, Carlton, RD, Graham, DM, Ruzicka, R and Colella, MA (2015) Ocean acidification enhances the bioerosion of a common coral reef sponge: implications for the persistence of the Florida reef tract. Bulletin of Marine Science 91, 271–290.Google Scholar
Fütterer, DK (1974) Significance of the boring sponge Cliona for the origin of fine grained material of carbonate sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Research 44, 79–84.Google Scholar
Gattuso, JP, Pichon, M, Delesalle, B, Canon, C and Frankignoulle, M (1996) Carbon fluxes in coral reefs. I. Lagrangian measurement of community metabolism and resulting air-sea CO2 disequilibrium. Marine Ecology Progress Series 145, 109–121.Google Scholar
Glynn, PW (1988) El Niño warming, coral mortality and reef framework destruction by echinoid bioerosion in the eastern Pacific. Galaxea 7, 129–160.Google Scholar
Glynn, PW (1998) El Niño-southern oscillation 1982–1983: nearshore population, community and ecosystem responses. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 19, 309–345.Google Scholar
Glynn, PW (2011) In tandem reef coral and cryptic metazoan declines and extinctions. Bulletin of Marine Science 87, 767–794.Google Scholar
Glynn, PW and Leyte-Morales, GE (1997) Coral reefs of Huatulco, West Mexico: reef development in upwelling Gulf of Tehuantepec. Revista de Biología Tropical 45, 1033–1047.Google Scholar
Glynn, PW, Maté, JL, Baker, AC and Calderón, MO (2001) Coral bleaching and mortality in Panama and Ecuador during the 1997–1998 El Niño–Southern Oscillation event: spatial/temporal patterns and comparisons with the 1982–1983 event. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 79–109.Google Scholar
Gómez, ED, Aliño, PM, Yap, HT and Licuanan, WY (1994) A review of the status of Philippine reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin 29, 62–68.Google Scholar
Granja-Fernández, MR and López-Pérez, RA (2008) Sedimentación en comunidades arrecifales de Bahías de Huatulco, Oaxaca, México. Revista de Biología Tropical 56, 1179–1187.Google Scholar
Holmes, KE, Edinger, EN, Limmon, GV and Risk, MJ (2000) Bioerosion of live massive corals and branching coral rubble on Indonesian coral reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin 40, 606–617.Google Scholar
Kruskal, JB and Wish, C (1978) Multidimensional Scaling. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Loya, Y (1972) Community structure and species diversity of hermatypic corals at Eilat, Red Sea. Marine Biology 13, 100–123.Google Scholar
Manzello, DP, Kleypas, JA, Budd, DA, Eakin, CM, Glynn, PW and Langdon, C (2008) Poorly cemented coral reefs of the eastern tropical Pacific: possible insights into reef development in a high-CO2 world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105, 10450–10455.Google Scholar
Nava, H and Carballo, JL (2008) Chemical and mechanical bioerosion of boring sponges from Mexican Pacific coral reefs. Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 2827–2831.Google Scholar
Nava, H and Carballo, JL (2013) Environmental factors shaping boring sponge assemblages at Mexican Pacific coral reefs. Marine Ecology 34, 269–279.Google Scholar
Nava, H and Carballo, JL (2016) Assessment of the effectiveness of natural coral fragmentation as a dispersal mechanism for coral reef-boring sponges. Marine Ecology 37, 1008–1018.Google Scholar
Nava, H, Ramírez-Herrera, MT, Figueroa-Camacho, AG and Villegas-Sánchez, BM (2014) Habitat characteristics and environmental factors related to boring sponge assemblages on coral reefs near populated coastal areas on the Mexican eastern Pacific coast. Marine Biodiversity 44, 45–54.Google Scholar
Neumann, AC (1966) Observations on coastal erosion in Bermuda and measurements of the boring rate of the sponge Cliona lampa. Limnology and Oceanography 11, 92–108.Google Scholar
NOAA (2017) Monthly OISST.v2 (1981–2010 base period) Niño 1 + 2 (0–10°South) (90°West-80°West) Niño 3 (5°North-5°South) (150°West-90°West) Niño 4 (5°North-5°South) (160°East-150°West) Niño 3.4 (5°North-5°South) (170–120°West). Available at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices/sstoi.indices (Accessed 26 October 2017).Google Scholar
Perry, CT and Harborne, AR (2016) Bioerosion on modern reefs: impacts and responses under changing ecological and environmental conditions. In Hubbard, D, Rogers, C, Lipps, J and Stanley, G Jr (eds), Coral Reefs at the Crossroads. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 69–101.Google Scholar
Perry, CT, Spencer, T and Kench, PS (2008) Carbonate budgets and reef production states: a geomorphic perspective on the ecological phase-shift concept. Coral Reefs 27, 853–866.Google Scholar
Preisendorfer, RW (1986) Secchi disk science: visual optics of natural waters. Limnology and Oceanography 31, 909–926.Google Scholar
Rao, CR (1973) Linear Statistical Inference and its Applications, 2nd Edn. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Reyes-Bonilla, H (2001) Effects of the 1997–1998 El Niño-Southern Oscillation event on coral communities of the Gulf of California, Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 251–266.Google Scholar
Reyes-Bonilla, H, Carriquiry, JD, Leyte-Morales, GE and Cupul-Magaña, AL (2002) Effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the anti-El Niño event (1997–1999) on coral reefs of the western coast of Mexico. Coral Reefs 21, 368–372.Google Scholar
Rützler, K (1975) The role of burrowing sponges in bioerosion. Oecologia 19, 203–216.Google Scholar
Rützler, K (2002) Impact of crustose clionid sponges on Caribbean reef corals. Acta Geologica Hispanica 37, 61–72.Google Scholar
Schönberg, CHL (2015) Monitoring bioeroding sponges: using rubble, quadrat, or intercept surveys? Biological Bulletin 228, 137–355.Google Scholar
Schönberg, CHL and Ortiz, JC (2009) Is sponge bioerosion increasing? In Riegl, B and Dodge, RE (eds), Proceedings of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern University, pp. 520–523.Google Scholar
Schönberg, CHL and Suwa, R (2007) Why bioeroding sponges may be better hosts for symbiotic dinoflagellates than many corals. In Custódio, MR, Lôbo-Hajdu, G, Hajdu, E and Muricy, G (eds), Porifera Research: Biodiversity, Innovation and Sustainability. Rio de Janeiro: Comissão de Publicações do Museu Nacional, pp. 569–580.Google Scholar
Schönberg, CHL, Fang, JKH, Carreiro-Silva, M, Tribollet, A and Wisshak, M (2017 a) Bioerosion: the other ocean acidification problem. ICES Journal of Marine Science 74, 895–925.Google Scholar
Schönberg, CHL, Fang, JKH and Carballo, JL (2017 b) Bioeroding sponges and the future of coral reefs. In Carballo, JL and Bell, JJ (eds), Climate Change, Ocean Acidification and the Future of Coral Reefs. Cham: Springer, pp. 179–372.Google Scholar
Scoffin, TP, Stearn, CW, Boucher, D, Frydl, P, Hawkins, CM, Hunter, IG and MacGeachy, JK (1980) Calcium carbonate budget of a fringing reef on the west coast of Barbados II. Erosion, sediments and internal structure. Bulletin of Marine Science 30, 475–508.Google Scholar
Sheppard, CR, Spalding, M, Bradshaw, C and Wilson, S (2002) Erosion vs recovery of coral reefs after 1998 El Niño: Chagos reefs, Indian Ocean. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 31, 40–48.Google Scholar
Sokal, RR and Rohlf, FJ (1995) Biometry, 3rd Edn. San Francisco, CA: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Tribollet, A, Godinot, C, Atkinson, M and Langdon, C (2009) Effects of elevated pCO2 on dissolution of coral carbonates by microbial euendoliths. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 23, 1–7.Google Scholar
Vicente, VP (1990) Response of sponges with autotrophic endosymbionts during the coral-bleaching episode in Puerto Rico. Coral Reefs 8, 199–202.Google Scholar
Warwick, RM, Clarke, KR and Suharsono, L (1990) A statistical analysis of coral community responses to the 1982–83 El Niño in the Thousand Islands, Indonesia. Coral Reefs 8, 171–179.Google Scholar
Zar, JH (1984) Biostatistical Analysis, 2nd Edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar