Antagonism between invasive pest corals Tubastraea spp. and the native reef-builder Mussismilia hispida in the southwest Atlantic

The biological invasion of the scleractinian corals Tubastraea coccinea and Tubastraea tagusensis into the Atlantic has resulted in their juxtaposition with native reef corals. We used microcosm and field experiments to investigate and separate the effects of chemical vs. physical mechanisms potenti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology Vol. 449; pp. 69 - 76
Main Authors:	Santos, Larissa Akiko H. dos, Ribeiro, Felipe V., Creed, Joel C.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Kidlington Elsevier B.V 01-11-2013 Elsevier
Subjects:	Animal, plant and microbial ecology Applied ecology Biological and medical sciences Cnidaria. Ctenaria Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects Interspecific competition Invasive corals Invertebrates Marine Mesenterial filaments Mussismilia hispida Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking Scleractinia Tubastraea Tubastraea coccinea Tubastraea spp Tubastraea tagusensis Southwest Atlantic Atlantic Ocean ASW, Atlantic A, Atlantic Interspecific competition Mussismilia hispida Tubastraea spp Invasive corals Mesenterial filaments Biological invasion Coral reef Coelenterata Antagonism Invasive species Pest Cnidaria Invertebrata Environmental monitoring Native species Environmental protection
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Summary:	The biological invasion of the scleractinian corals Tubastraea coccinea and Tubastraea tagusensis into the Atlantic has resulted in their juxtaposition with native reef corals. We used microcosm and field experiments to investigate and separate the effects of chemical vs. physical mechanisms potentially responsible for observed antagonistic interactions between the invasive corals and the endemic (southwest Atlantic) reef-building coral Mussismilia hispida. In the short term microcosm experiment M. hispida extruded a substantial amount of mesenterial filaments in an aggressive response to proximity to both invasive species within a few hours. However, in the field only the native coral suffered necrosis, which was visible after only four days. The use of physical barriers to separate chemical and physical effects demonstrated that antagonistic effects were far greater in the absence of a physical barrier than in the partial or complete barrier treatments, so although there is evidence that these invasive corals may produce allelochemicals against possible competitors we demonstrated that the main mechanism Tubastraea spp uses to exclude the native coral species is principally a rapid physical response. •Microcosm and field experiments were used to assess antagonistic interactions.•The native Mussismilia hispida was more aggressive than the two invasive species.•The native species necrosed but the invasive Tubastraea species were unharmed.•A physical competitive mechanism (mesenterial filaments) was used.•This mechanism will facilitate the biological invasion of coral reefs.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0022-0981 1879-1697
DOI:	10.1016/j.jembe.2013.08.017