Most of the reef's biodiversity remains undiscovered due to its complex tridimensional structure and the small size of the organisms that compose most of its biodiversity. To better understand the biodiversity of the major biological component of the reef environment (the cryptobiome), artificial cubic-like tools called Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) were created to mimic the tridimensional nature of coral reefs. Here, I deployed 16 ARMS within four distinct benthic habitats on Tahla reef in the Red Sea (Saudi Arabia) to investigate how changes in reef habitats reflect changes in associated biodiversity of the cryptobiome. The following habitat types were selected after reef surveys and based on benthic coverage prevalence: i) Algae Pavement; ii) Rubble; iii) Plating corals; and iv) Branching corals. Habitats were located at the same depth contour (~10m), under similar exposure conditions and separated by at least 35m. The rugosity of the habitats was estimated based on the chain method, whereas monthly measurements of the physicochemical characteristics of the water were assessed by water collections (nutrients and chlorophyll a) and Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) instrument deployments (temperature, salinity). A fixed quadrat of approximately 15m2 was marked within each habitat type and four ARMS were deployed randomly within it. Units were retrieved after a period of approximately seven months for analysis of pioneer eukaryotic assemblages through traditional taxonomy identification of organisms larger than 2000μm, and through molecular metabarcoding using COI and 18S markers for the remaining ARMS fractions: sessile, 500μm-2000μm, and 106μm-500μm. To compare two distinct current methodologies to assess cryptobenthic taxa, water collections next to each ARMS unit were conducted right before retrieval. These samples were used to investigate the environmental DNA using the same COI and 18S markers. The biodiversity of the pioneer cryptobiome assemblage was analyzed through a combination of univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Overall, the habitats that showed greatest significantly distinct cryptobenthic community composition were Algae Pavement and Plating Corals, the ARMS and eDNA were defined as complementary techniques to assess the cryptofauna, and the use of a multi-marker approach increased the resolution of the cryptofauna characterization across different reef habitats.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:kaust.edu.sa/oai:repository.kaust.edu.sa:10754/686021 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Rosado, João G. |
| Contributors | Berumen, Michael L., Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, Hong, Pei-Ying, Carvalho, Susana |
| Source Sets | King Abdullah University of Science and Technology |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | 2023-11-29, At the time of archiving, the student author of this thesis opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this thesis will become available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2023-11-29. |
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