Abstract
Several obligate associate crabs and shrimps species may co-occur and interact within a single coral host, leading to patterns of associations that can provide essential ecological services. However, knowledge of the dynamics of interactions in this system is limited, partly because identifying species involved in the network remains challenging. In this study, we assessed the diversity of the decapods involved in exosymbiotic assemblages for juvenile and adult Pocillopora damicornis types α and β on reefs of New Caledonia and Reunion Island. This approach revealed complex patterns of association at regional and local scales with a prevalence of assemblages involving crab-shrimp partnerships. Furthermore, the distinction of two lineages in the snapping shrimp Alpheus lottini complex, rarely recognized in ecological studies, reveals a key role for cryptic diversity in structuring communities of mutualists. The existence of partnerships between species that occurred more commonly than expected by chance suggests an increased advantage for the host or a better adaptation of associated species to local environmental conditions. The consideration of cryptic diversity helps to accurately describe the complexity of interaction webs for diverse systems such as coral reefs, as well as the functional roles of dominant associated species for the persistence of coral populations.
Highlights
CORAIL; Université de La Réunion, 15 Boulevard René Cassin, CS 92003, 97744 Saint Denis, Reunion, Island, France. †Present address: Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Motobu, Okinawa, Japan
In New Caledonia, higher proportions of P. damicornis type αwere observed among both adults (81%) and juveniles (69%), and almost all type βcolonies came from high impact sites (NC-high impacts (HI), Table 1)
The two distinct lineages were rarely found within the same coral host, indicating habitat partitioning typical of a micro-allopatric distribution
Summary
CORAIL; Université de La Réunion, 15 Boulevard René Cassin, CS 92003, 97744 Saint Denis, Reunion, Island, France. †Present address: Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Motobu, Okinawa, Japan. Recent evidence suggests that the exosymbiont species are not functionally equivalent in terms of the benefits they provide[35] In this context, the primary objective of the present study was to describe patterns of association among P. damicornis types αand β(sensu[27]; note that we used this designation because it better reflects the phylogenetic proximity between the two clades) and their decapod exosymbionts in two distinct biogeographic regions, the understudied South Western Indian Ocean (Reunion Island, RI), described as an evolutionary hotspot[36], and the South Western Pacific Ocean (New Caledonia, NC), a region of interest for its high biodiversity[37]. We analyzed patterns of co-occurrence among species involved in this mutualistic network in order to evaluate key exosymbiotic assemblages for the coral host
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