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PORIFERA BIODIVERSITY IN THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON: EVALUATING THE LATITUDINAL ECOTONE AND SIMILARITIES WITH SAINT LUCIE REEF
Title
PORIFERA BIODIVERSITY IN THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON: EVALUATING THE LATITUDINAL ECOTONE AND SIMILARITIES WITH SAINT LUCIE REEF.
Creator
Babbe, Greer, Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Marine Science and Oceanography, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description
Sponges (Phylum Porifera) are hardy organisms persisting and predicted to become more dominant world-wide under climate change scenarios. However, we lack baseline knowledge on sponge biodiversity in transitional areas (subtropical to warm-temperate) that are more susceptible to climate change such as The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) (estuary) and Saint Lucie Reef (northern most coral reef) ecosystems in south Florida. The aims of this master’s thesis are to 1) evaluate if sponge assemblages...
Show moreSponges (Phylum Porifera) are hardy organisms persisting and predicted to become more dominant world-wide under climate change scenarios. However, we lack baseline knowledge on sponge biodiversity in transitional areas (subtropical to warm-temperate) that are more susceptible to climate change such as The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) (estuary) and Saint Lucie Reef (northern most coral reef) ecosystems in south Florida. The aims of this master’s thesis are to 1) evaluate if sponge assemblages reflect the previously defined ecotone between subtropical and warm-temperate biomes in the IRL (Chapter one), 2) determine how porifera communities are associated to their respective environment (temperature, water velocity, photosynthetically active radiation, carbonate chemistry, and nutrients) in the IRL and St. Lucie Reef (Chapter two), and 3) establish a distribution baseline for future studies aiming to assess Porifera range shifts during climate change (Chapter one and two). Porifera biodiversity surveys across the IRL and Saint Lucie reef were carried out at different spatial and time scales. Environmental parameters (ocean acidification, temperature and eutrophication) were obtained and compared for sites in Fort Pierce Inlet and St Lucie Reef. Chapter one results show that sponge assemblages do not reflect the previously defined ecotone between subtropical and warm-temperate biomes in the IRL, instead they structure in relation to the inlets (distance from the inlet). The most diverse sponge assemblages are found in Sebastian, Fort Pierce, and Jupiter Inlets, and are significant different among habitats; oyster reefs host a unique assemblage of excavating sponges.
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Date Issued
2023
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014174
Subject Headings
Sponges--Ecology, Porifera, Indian River (Fla. : Lagoon), Saint Lucie Inlet (Fla.)
Format
Document (PDF)
EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF THERMAL ANOMALIES ON CORAL REEF BENTHIC COMPETITIVE INTERACTIONS
Title
EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF THERMAL ANOMALIES ON CORAL REEF BENTHIC COMPETITIVE INTERACTIONS.
Creator
Spagnolia, Christopher T., Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Marine Science and Oceanography, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description
Climate change has intensified thermal anomalies in coral reef ecosystems, contributing to coral bleaching and decline. As corals die, reef fragmentation increases, and species interactions in the benthos change. However, it is unclear which competitive interactions may prevail and structure future reef ecosystems. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of thermal anomalies on coral reef benthic competitive interactions. Photoquadrats in southeast Florida reef sites were assessed...
Show moreClimate change has intensified thermal anomalies in coral reef ecosystems, contributing to coral bleaching and decline. As corals die, reef fragmentation increases, and species interactions in the benthos change. However, it is unclear which competitive interactions may prevail and structure future reef ecosystems. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of thermal anomalies on coral reef benthic competitive interactions. Photoquadrats in southeast Florida reef sites were assessed over 15-years to generate interaction metrics and determine effects on hard coral survivorship. A state-transition model was created to predict the resultant community across 100 years with thermal scenarios concordant with the IPCC RCP 4.5 and 8.5. Interaction doubled across three thermal anomaly events and ended up mainly composed of pairwise examples between Dictyota, Halimeda, Niphates erecta, and Erythropodium caribaeorum. Century projections confirm that soft coral and sponge interactions will increase through thermal anomalies. The survival of hard corals was more successful when colonies were in permanent or intermittent interactions than when colonies were solitary (indirect interactions). Living hard corals were mostly found interacting with the macroalgae, Dictyota, and sponge Aplysina cauliformis, while corals that died were mainly in interactions with the soft coral E. caribaeorum, and sponges N. erecta, C. delitrix, D. anchorata, and Ircinia campana. Future reefs will be composed of more interactions between soft corals and sponges as thermal anomalies intensify, which will result in a patchier and flatter community.
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Date Issued
2023
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014257
Subject Headings
Coral reef ecology, Climate change, Benthic ecology
Format
Document (PDF)
Reconstruction of Family-Level Phylogenetic Relationships within Demospongiae (Porifera) Using Nuclear Encoded Housekeeping Genes
Title
Reconstruction of Family-Level Phylogenetic Relationships within Demospongiae (Porifera) Using Nuclear Encoded Housekeeping Genes.
Creator
Hill, Malcolm S., Hill, April L., Lopez, Jose V., Peterson, Kevin J., Pomponi, Shirley A., Diaz, Maria Cristina, Thacker, Robert W., Adamska, Maja, Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Cárdenas, Paco, Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia, Danka, Elizabeth, De Laine, Bre-Onna, Formica, Dawn, Hajdu, Eduardo, Lobo-Hajdu, Gisele, Klontz, Sarah, Morrow, Christine C., Patel, Jignasa, Picton, Bernard, Pisani, Davide, Pohlmann, Deborah, Redmond, Niamh E., Reed, John K., Richey, Stacy, Riesgo, Ana, Rubin, Ewelina, Russell, Zach, Rützler, Klaus, Sperling, Erik A., di Stefano, Michael, Tarver, James E., Collins, Allen G., Lin, Senjie
Abstract/Description
Background: Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major clades. To improve understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae, we sequenced and analyzed seven nuclear housekeeping genes involved in a variety of cellular functions from a diverse group of sponges. Methodology/Principal Findings: We generated data from each of the four sponge classes (i.e., Calcarea,...
Show moreBackground: Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major clades. To improve understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae, we sequenced and analyzed seven nuclear housekeeping genes involved in a variety of cellular functions from a diverse group of sponges. Methodology/Principal Findings: We generated data from each of the four sponge classes (i.e., Calcarea, Demospongiae, Hexactinellida, and Homoscleromorpha), but focused on family-level relationships within demosponges. With data for 21 newly sampled families, our Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian-based approaches recovered previously phylogenetically defined taxa: Keratosap, Myxospongiaep, Spongillidap, Haploscleromorphap (the marine haplosclerids) and Democlaviap. We found conflicting results concerning the relationships of Keratosap and Myxospongiaep to the remaining demosponges, but our results strongly supported a clade of Haploscleromorphap+Spongillidap+Democlaviap. In contrast to hypotheses based on mitochondrial genome and ribosomal data, nuclear housekeeping gene data suggested that freshwater sponges (Spongillidap) are sister to Haploscleromorphap rather than part of Democlaviap. Within Keratosap, we found equivocal results as to the monophyly of Dictyoceratida. Within Myxospongiaep, Chondrosida and Verongida were monophyletic. A wellsupported clade within Democlaviap, Tetractinellidap, composed of all sampled members of Astrophorina and Spirophorina (including the only lithistid in our analysis), was consistently revealed as the sister group to all other members of Democlaviap. Within Tetractinellidap, we did not recover monophyletic Astrophorina or Spirophorina. Our results also reaffirmed the monophyly of order Poecilosclerida (excluding Desmacellidae and Raspailiidae), and polyphyly of Hadromerida and Halichondrida. Conclusions/Significance: These results, using an independent nuclear gene set, confirmed many hypotheses based on ribosomal and/or mitochondrial genes, and they also identified clades with low statistical support or clades that conflicted with traditional morphological classification. Our results will serve as a basis for future exploration of these outstanding questions using more taxon- and gene-rich datasets.
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Date Issued
2013-01-23
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000044
Format
Citation