Inter-Research > MEPS > v657 > p109-121  
MEPS
Marine Ecology Progress Series

via Mailchimp

MEPS 657:109-121 (2021)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13579

Three competitors in three dimensions: photogrammetry reveals rapid overgrowth of coral during multispecies competition with sponges and algae

Lauren K. Olinger1,2,*, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra1,3, Ian C. Enochs4, Marilyn E. Brandt1

1Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands 00802, USA
2Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina 28409, USA
3Harriet Wilkes Honor College/Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Pierce, Florida 33458, USA
4Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories (AOML), NOAA, Miami, Florida 33149, USA
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Competition for limited space is an important driver of benthic community structure on coral reefs. Studies of coral-algae and coral-sponge interactions often show competitive dominance of algae and sponges over corals, but little is known about the outcomes when these groups compete in a multispecies context. Multispecies competition is increasingly common on Caribbean coral reefs as environmental degradation drives loss of reef-building corals and proliferation of alternative organisms such as algae and sponges. New methods are needed to understand multispecies competition, whose outcomes can differ widely from pairwise competition and range from coexistence to exclusion. In this study, we used 3D photogrammetry and image analyses to compare pairwise and multispecies competition on reefs in the US Virgin Islands. Sponges (Desmapsamma anchorata, Aplysina cauliformis) and macroalgae (Lobophora variegata) were attached to coral (Porites astreoides) and arranged to simulate multispecies (coral-sponge-algae) and pairwise (coral-sponge, coral-algae) competition. Photogrammetric 3D models were produced to measure surface area change of coral and sponges, and photographs were analyzed to measure sponge-coral, algae-coral, and algae-sponge overgrowth. Coral lost more surface area and was overgrown more rapidly by the sponge D. anchorata in multispecies treatments, when the sponge was also in contact with algae. Algae contact may confer a competitive advantage to the sponge D. anchorata, but not to A. cauliformis, underscoring the species-specificity of these interactions. This first application of photogrammetry to study competition showed meaningful losses of living coral that, combined with significant overgrowths by competitors detected from image analyses, exposed a novel outcome of multispecies competition.


KEY WORDS: Photogrammetry · Competition · Corals · Sponges · Algae


Full text in pdf format
Supplementary material
Cite this article as: Olinger LK, Chaves-Fonnegra A, Enochs IC, Brandt ME (2021) Three competitors in three dimensions: photogrammetry reveals rapid overgrowth of coral during multispecies competition with sponges and algae. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 657:109-121. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13579

Export citation
Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn

 Previous article Next article