Coral reef cryptobenthic communities are largely understudied yet they
contribute to the large majority of coral reef biodiversity. The main aim of this
dissertation was to understand the effects of the organic C, temperature,
surrounding benthic communities, salinity, catastrophic events, time, and
limitations to dispersal of the cryptobenthic communities. Using 54 ARMS along
the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast, we found that temperature, chlorophyll-a
concentration, and photosynthetic active radiation affected the number of OTUs
of the cryptobiome, i.e., its biodiversity. We found temperature, energy available,
and benthic structure to be associated with distinct cryptobenthic communities
and to influence its diversity patterns. These environmental conditions affected
differentially the abundance of specific organisms. We also investigated the
inter-annual patterns of variability of this biological component in the central Red
Sea. We deployed and collected ARMS in four reefs along a cross shelf gradient in
three sampling periods spanning 6 years (2013-2019). This period included the
2015/2016 mass bleaching event. We observed cross shelf differences in
community composition to be consistent over time and maintained after the
bleaching event. However, turnover was significantly higher between
prebleaching and post bleaching sampling years than between post bleaching
comparisons. Cryptobenthic communities of 2019 presented a slight return to
prebleaching composition. In light of predictions of returning bleaching events
every 6 years, the observed return might not be sufficient for reaching a full
recovery. We investigated the relative contribution of two ecological theories:
the neutral theory (associated with the limitations to dispersal and therefore
geographic distance) and the niche filtering (associated with environmental
conditions that limit colonization). We used 50 ARMS collected from the north,
central, and south Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and Oman Gulf. We found that
limitation to dispersal and environmental filtering to influence beta diversity.
However, the geographic distance had a better fit with the beta diversity patterns
observed, suggesting a preponderance of the neutral theory of ecology
explaining the community patterns. This dissertation provides fundamental
information on characterization of the cryptobiome in the Arabian Peninsula.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:kaust.edu.sa/oai:repository.kaust.edu.sa:10754/670863 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Villalobos Vazquez de la Parra, Rodrigo |
| Contributors | Berumen, Michael L., Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, Carvalho, Susana, Jones, Burton, Wing, Rod Anthony, Brainard, Rusty |
| Source Sets | King Abdullah University of Science and Technology |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | 2022-09-01, At the time of archiving, the student author of this dissertation opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this dissertation will become available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2022-09-01. |
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