Premium
Tethya (Porifera, Demosponglae) Species Coexisting in a Maldivian Coral Reef Lagoon: Taxonomical, Genetic and Ecological Data
Author(s) -
Sarà Michele,
Corriero Giuseppe,
Bavestrello Giorgio
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
marine ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.668
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1439-0485
pISSN - 0173-9565
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0485.1993.tb00005.x
Subject(s) - coral reef , ecology , biotope , atoll , rubble , biology , reef , sympatry , coral , geography , sympatric speciation , habitat , archaeology
. Tethya microstella, T. orphei, T. robusta , and T. seychellensis live in sympatry in a Maldivian coral reef lagoon (Gangehi Island, Ari Atoll). A morphological, morphometric, and electrophoretical study of these species show that their Maldivian populations are well separated morphologically and genetically. The genetic distances and the other data are more consistent with an immigration than with a local speciation hypothesis. Their coexistence may be explained by a differentiation in ecological requirements. The four species inhabit the shallow water biotope of the lagoon among the rubble of dead corals. Our data show that T. orphei and T. seychellensis occupy the upper rubble layer, T. microstella and T. robusta the lower one. This distinction agrees with the different morpho‐functional features of the two pairs of species.