Sponges of the Red Sea

Wooster, Michael K.; Voigt, Oliver; Erpenbeck, Dirk; Wörheide, Gert; Berumen, Michael L.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-05802-9_6

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 247 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Several factors contribute to this gap, including a lack of taxonomic knowledge, the frequently cryptic growth form of sponges, and difficulties in field identification, which are just some of the reasons that sponges are often overlooked (Wulff, 2001). This gap of knowledge is especially pronounced in Red Sea MCEs, where data on sponge abundance, community structure, and coverage are notably sparse (Bell et al, 2015;Eyal et al, 2019;Wooster et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Red Sea, known for its diverse coral reefs, is considered a marine biodiversity hotspot due to the high level of species richness and endemism (Wooster et al, 2019). Nevertheless, most studies conducted on sponges in this region have been related to bioactive compounds (reviewed in Wooster et al, 2019), with only a few publications from recent years engaging with sponge biodiversity (Ilan et al, 2004;Helmy and Van Soest, 2005;Erpenbeck et al, 2016;Voigt et al, 2017;Van Soest and De Voogd, 2018). Additionally, no quantitative data focused on sponge abundance, richness or species composition are available from the region, with the exception of a few studies of individual species (Meroz and Ilan, 1995a;Yahel et al, 1998), or general studies of the benthic fauna with only minor reference to sponges (Benayahu and Loya, 1981;Ellis et al, 2017;Khalil et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sponge abundance and diversity patterns in the shallow and mesophotic reefs of the northern Red Sea

Raijman-Nagar,

Goren,

Shefer

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Accumulating data on the increasing degradation of coral reefs worldwide has led to a focus on the unique mesophotic coral ecosystem (MCE) as a potential refuge for threatened shallow-water species (i.e., the deep reef refugia hypothesis: DRRH). Sponges play a crucial role in coral-reef functioning but are often overlooked in benthic surveys. This knowledge gap is especially true for the Red Sea, where data on sponge abundance, coverage and species composition are scarce. Furthermore, to date, no study has examined mesophotic sponges in the Red Sea. Here we compared sponge abundance and diversity metrics between shallow and mesophotic reefs at two sites in the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea. We also examined the role of biotic and abiotic parameters in determining sponge variability between sites and depths. Sponge diversity metrics significantly varied with increasing depth and between sites. Sponge species composition also differed significantly between depth and sites. However, parameters measured in the water column, that is, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Particulate Organic Carbon (POC), NOx, etc., did not differ between depths and sites, except for Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus concentration, which did. The findings indicated that site characteristics and biotic interactions may play an essential role in determining sponge diversity and community composition. Between-site differences in sponge fauna revealed in the study highlight the importance of considering the variability in the benthic communities and the factors controlling it when designing management tools for coral reefs, particularly for the northern Red Sea.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Sponge abundance and diversity patterns in the shallow and mesophotic reefs of the northern Red Sea

Raijman-Nagar,

Goren,

Shefer

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of environmentally relevant culture conditions applied to marine-sponge-associated fungal strains is a manner of mimicking the natural holobiont system. [37][38][39] By tracking changes in the fungal extract proles, it is possible to identify molecules whose production varies in response of the presence of the sponge. However, while this model raises numerous and interesting biological questions which are out of the scope of this analytical chemistry study, it also provides an impressive spectral complexity to challenge new analytical methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the complementarity of fast multipulse and multidimensional NMR methods for metabolomics: a chemical ecology case study

Michaud,

Bertrand,

Akoka

et al. 2024

Anal. Methods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We test our newly developed multilocus probe assay, specifically designed to capture the broad diversity of sponges belonging to the demosponge order Haplosclerida, with specimens collected from the Red Sea. To date, very little has been documented on the sponge diversity of the Red Sea, which limits our understanding of the sponge communities present, their ecology, and how they will adapt under future climate conditions (Wooster et al., 2019). Haplosclerida is one of the most speciose sponge orders, with >800 species described to date (Van Soest et al., 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel target‐enriched multilocus assay for sponges (Porifera): Red Sea Haplosclerida (Demospongiae) as a test case

van der Sprong,

de Voogd,

McCormack

et al. 2023

Molecular Ecology Resources

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With declining biodiversity worldwide, a better understanding of species diversity and their relationships is imperative for conservation and management efforts. Marine sponges are species‐rich ecological key players on coral reefs, but their species diversity is still poorly understood. This is particularly true for the demosponge order Haplosclerida, whose systematic relationships are contentious due to the incongruencies between morphological and molecular phylogenetic hypotheses. The single gene markers applied in previous studies did not resolve these discrepancies. Hence, there is a high need for a genome‐wide approach to derive a phylogenetically robust classification and understand this group's evolutionary relationships. To this end, we developed a target enrichment‐based multilocus probe assay for the order Haplosclerida using transcriptomic data. This probe assay consists of 20,000 enrichment probes targeting 2956 ultraconserved elements in coding (i.e. exon) regions across the genome and was tested on 26 haplosclerid specimens from the Red Sea. Our target‐enrichment approach correctly placed our samples in a well‐supported phylogeny, in agreement with previous haplosclerid molecular phylogenies. Our results demonstrate the applicability of high‐resolution genomic methods in a systematically complex marine invertebrate group and provide a promising approach for robust phylogenies of Haplosclerida. Subsequently, this will lead to biologically unambiguous taxonomic revisions, better interpretations of biological and ecological observations and new avenues for applied research, conservation and managing declining marine diversity.

show abstract

Sponges of the Red Sea

Cited by 5 publications

References 247 publications

Sponge abundance and diversity patterns in the shallow and mesophotic reefs of the northern Red Sea

Sponge abundance and diversity patterns in the shallow and mesophotic reefs of the northern Red Sea

Exploring the complementarity of fast multipulse and multidimensional NMR methods for metabolomics: a chemical ecology case study

A novel target‐enriched multilocus assay for sponges (Porifera): Red Sea Haplosclerida (Demospongiae) as a test case

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About