Abstract Work on marine biofilms has primarily focused on host-associated habitats for their roles in larval recruitment and disease dynamics; little is known about the factors regulating the composition of reef environmental biofilms. To contrast the roles of succession, benthic communities and nutrients in structuring marine biofilms, we surveyed bacteria communities in biofilms through a six-week succession in aquaria containing macroalgae, coral, or reef sand factorially crossed with three levels of continuous nutrient enrichment. Our findings demonstrate how biofilm successional trajectories diverge from temporal dynamics of the bacterioplankton and how biofilms are structured by the surrounding benthic organisms and nutrient enrichment. We identify a suite of biofilm-associated bacteria linked with the orthogonal influences of corals, algae and nutrients and distinct from the overlying water. Our results provide a comprehensive characterization of marine biofilm successional dynamics and contextualize the impact of widespread changes in reef community composition and nutrient pollution on biofilm community structure.
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This content will become publicly available on March 1, 2025
Light‐use efficiency for coral reef communities and benthic functional types
Coral reef metabolism is dominated by benthic photoautotrophic communities that comprise varying combinations of algae, coral, and sand. Rates of daily gross primary production (GPP) for these benthic functional types (BFTs) are remarkably consistent across biogeographical regions, supporting the idea that reefs exhibit modal metabolism. Most variability in reported rates likely arises from differences in light availability. In fact, GPP is a linear function of incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), the fraction of PAR absorbed (fAPAR) by photoautotrophic organisms or communities, and light‐use efficiency (
- Award ID(s):
- 2224354
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10515864
- Publisher / Repository:
- https://mcr.lternet.edu/bibliography
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Limnology and Oceanography
- Volume:
- 69
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0024-3590
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 712 to 722
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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