Abstract
Sponges are an important component of coral reef communities. The present study is the first devoted exclusively to coral reef sponges from Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). Eighty-seven species were found, with assemblages dominated by very small cryptic patches and boring sponges such as Cliona vermifera; the most common species in ETP reefs. We compared the sponge patterns from ETP reefs, Caribbean reefs (CR) and West Pacific reefs (WPR), and all have in common that very few species dominate the sponge assemblages. However, they are massive or large sun exposed sponges in CR and WPR, and small encrusting and boring cryptic species in ETP. At a similar depth, CR and WPR had seven times more individuals per m2, and between four (CR) and five times (WPR) more species per m2 than ETP. Perturbation, at local and large scale, rather than biological factors, seems to explain the low prevalence and characteristics of sponge assemblages in ETP reefs, which are very frequently located in shallow water where excessive turbulence, abrasion and high levels of damaging light occur. Other factors such as the recurrence of large-scale phenomena (mainly El Niño events), age of the reef (younger in ETP), isolation (higher in ETP), difficulty to gain recruits from distant areas (higher in ETP), are responsible for shaping ETP sponge communities. Such great differences in sponge fauna between the three basins might have consequences for coral reef structure and dynamics.
Highlights
Coral reefs are among the most complex, and largest biological structures on earth[1,2], and probably are the most diverse communities of the oceans and have an estimated of 1,330,000 species[3,4]
We examined patterns of sponge biodiversity in coral reefs across the entire Mexican Pacific Ocean
We explore the possible causes that explain the differences between Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) and Caribbean (CR) and West Pacific Reefs (WPR)
Summary
Coral reefs are among the most complex, and largest biological structures on earth[1,2], and probably are the most diverse communities of the oceans and have an estimated of 1,330,000 species[3,4]. In Eastern Tropical Pacific region (ETP), modern reef-building corals extend from the Gulf of California (Mexico) to Ecuador, with a distribution skewed toward the northern hemisphere[8,9], since 46% of the coverage is located in Mexico[10]. These reefs are relatively recent, varying from 200 to 5600 years in age, with a thickness ranging from 0.2 to 13 m, 4.5 m in average[11]. The studies of coral reef organisms in ETP and their taxonomy are strong biased towards the most conspicuous organisms, such as fishes[20,21], whereas most of the cryptic habitats that form the 3D framework remain www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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