Delayed recovery and host specialization may spell disaster for coral-fish mutualism.

Autor: Froehlich CYM; Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia., Klanten OS; School of Life Sciences University of Technology Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia., Hing ML; Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia., Dowton M; Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia., Wong MYL; Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales Australia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Ecology and evolution [Ecol Evol] 2023 Jun 22; Vol. 13 (6), pp. e10209. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 22 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10209
Abstrakt: Mutualisms are prevalent in many ecosystems, yet little is known about how symbioses are affected by ecological pressures. Here, we show delayed recovery for 13 coral-dwelling goby fishes (genus Gobiodon ) compared with their host Acropora corals following four consecutive cyclones and heatwaves. While corals became twice as abundant in 3 years postdisturbances, gobies were only half as abundant relative to predisturbances and half of the goby species disappeared. Although gobies primarily occupied one coral species in greater abundance predisturbances, surviving goby species shifted hosts to newly abundant coral species when their previously occupied hosts became rare postdisturbances. As host specialization is key for goby fitness, shifting hosts may have negative fitness consequences for gobies and corals alike and affect their survival in response to environmental changes. Our study is an early sign that mutualistic partners may not recover similarly from multiple disturbances, and that goby host plasticity, while potentially detrimental, may be the only possibility for early recovery.
(© 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: