Significance of fish–sponge interactions in coral reef ecosystems
Coppock, Amy G., Kingsford, Michael J., Battershill, Christopher N., and Jones, Geoffrey P. (2022) Significance of fish–sponge interactions in coral reef ecosystems. Coral Reefs, 41. pp. 1285-1308.
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Abstract
Sponges (Porifera) are a key component of many coral reef ecosystems. In some biogeographic regions, they are considered the dominant benthic fauna and they have the capacity to fulfil many similar roles to reef-building scleractinians. Certainly, sponges predominate at depth, below the critical thresholds of most coral species. The biological and physical attributes of these biogenic communities contribute essential resources for many reef-associated fishes. However, while fish–sponge interactions have been widely documented, there is no global synthesis of the literature on these interrelationships from the perspective of fish ecology. Here we evaluate coral reef fish–sponge relationships, including the role of sponges in providing food and shelter for fishes, the influence fishes have on sponge distribution and abundance and possible outcomes of climate change on fish–sponge interactions. To date, 16 fish families have been shown to associate with 56 different sponge genera, using them as either a source of shelter (n = 17) or a food source (n = 50), although methodologies for the latter currently lack consistency. We demonstrate that a more comprehensive understanding of fish–sponge interactions has been garnered from tropical Atlantic coral reefs, which has resulted in a strong biogeographic bias. While it is evident that in some areas of the Caribbean fish are key in shaping the distribution and abundance of sponges, it is not yet known whether this conclusion applies to the Indo-Pacific. With increasing stresses such as bleaching events impacting coral reef ecosystems, further work is needed to evaluate whether sponges can fulfil similar functional roles to those previously provided by reef-building scleractinians. Similarly, determining whether sponge expansion will compensate for the negative effects of reef degradation, or contribute to their decline, is vital.
| Item ID: | 74226 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 0722-4028 |
| Keywords: | Sponges, Porifera, Fish, Interrelationships, Interactions, Shelter, Habitat, Predation, Importance, Climate change, Tropical, Coral reefs |
| Copyright Information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Date Deposited: | 18 May 2022 07:36 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180504 Marine biodiversity @ 100% |
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