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Gerovasileiou, V.; Voultsiadou, E. (2012). Marine Caves of the Mediterranean Sea: A Sponge Biodiversity Reservoir within a Biodiversity Hotspot. PLoS ONE. 7(7): e39873.
199504
10.1371/journal.pone.0039873 [view]
Gerovasileiou, V.; Voultsiadou, E.
2012
Marine Caves of the Mediterranean Sea: A Sponge Biodiversity Reservoir within a Biodiversity Hotspot
PLoS ONE
7(7): e39873
Publication
Available for editors  PDF available
Marine caves are widely acknowledged for their unique biodiversity and constitute a typical feature of the Mediterranean coastline. Herein an attempt was made to evaluate the ecological significance of this particular ecosystem in the Mediterranean Sea, which is considered a biodiversity hotspot. This was accomplished by using Porifera, which dominate the rocky sublittoral substrata, as a reference group in a meta-analytical approach, combining primary research data from the Aegean Sea (eastern Mediterranean) with data derived from the literature. In total 311 species from all poriferan classes were recorded, representing 45.7% of the Mediterranean Porifera. Demospongiae and Homoscleromorpha are highly represented in marine caves at the family (88%), generic (70%), and species level (47.5%), the latter being the most favored group along with Dictyoceratida and Lithistida. Several rare and cave-exclusive species were reported from only one or few caves, indicating the fragmentation and peculiarity of this unique ecosystem. Species richness and phylogenetic diversity varied among Mediterranean areas; the former was positively correlated with research effort, being higher in the northern Mediterranean, while the latter was generally higher in caves than in the overall sponge assemblages of each area. Resemblance analysis among areas revealed that cavernicolous sponge assemblages followed a pattern quite similar to that of the overall Mediterranean assemblages. The same pattern was exhibited by the zoogeographic affinities of cave sponges: species with Atlanto-Mediterranean distribution and Mediterranean endemics prevailed (more than 40% each), 70% of them having warm-water affinities, since most caves were studied in shallow waters. According to our findings, Mediterranean marine caves appear to be important sponge biodiversity reservoirs of high representativeness and great scientific interest, deserving further detailed study and protection.
Mediterranean Sea in general
Ecology
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2015-07-31 13:46:05Z
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Aaptos aaptos (Schmidt, 1864) (additional source)
Acanthella acuta Schmidt, 1862 (additional source)
Aplysilla rosea (Barrois, 1876) (additional source)
Aplysina aerophoba (Nardo, 1833) (additional source)
Axinella damicornis (Esper, 1794) (additional source)
Axinella verrucosa (Esper, 1794) (additional source)
Cacospongia mollior Schmidt, 1862 (additional source)
Chondrosia reniformis Nardo, 1847 (additional source)
Coscinoderma sporadense Voultsiadou-Koukoura, van Soest & Koukouras, 1991 (additional source)
Crambe crambe (Schmidt, 1862) (additional source)
Dendroxea lenis (Topsent, 1892) (additional source)
Dictyonella incisa (Schmidt, 1880) (additional source)
Dictyonella obtusa (Schmidt, 1862) (additional source)
Dysidea avara (Schmidt, 1862) (additional source)
Dysidea fragilis (Montagu, 1814) (additional source)
Eurypon clavatum (Bowerbank, 1866) (additional source)
Fasciospongia cavernosa (Schmidt, 1862) (additional source)
Geodia cydonium (Linnaeus, 1767) (additional source)
Haliclona (Gellius) microsigma (Babic, 1922) (additional source)
Haliclona (Halichoclona) perlucida (Griessinger, 1971) (additional source)
Haliclona (Soestella) mucosa (Griessinger, 1971) (additional source)
Hexadella pruvoti Topsent, 1896 (additional source)
Hexadella racovitzai Topsent, 1896 (additional source)
Hyrtios collectrix (Schulze, 1880) (additional source)
Ircinia paucifilamentosa Vacelet, 1961 (additional source)
Jaspis johnstonii (Schmidt, 1862) (additional source)
Myrmekioderma spelaeum (Pulitzer-Finali, 1983) (additional source)
Oscarella balibaloi Pérez, Ivanisevic, Dubois, Pedel, Thomas, Tokina & Ereskovsky, 2011 (additional source)
Oscarella tuberculata (Schmidt, 1868) (additional source)
Penares helleri (Schmidt, 1864) (additional source)
Petrosia (Petrosia) ficiformis (Poiret, 1789) (additional source)
Petrosia (Strongylophora) vansoesti Boury-Esnault, Pansini & Uriz, 1994 (additional source)
Phorbas tenacior (Topsent, 1925) (additional source)
Phorbas topsenti Vacelet & Pérez, 2008 (additional source)
Plakina bowerbanki (Sarà, 1960) (additional source)
Plakina monolopha Schulze, 1880 (additional source)
Plakina trilopha Schulze, 1880 (additional source)
Pleraplysilla spinifera (Schulze, 1879) (additional source)
Protosuberites rugosus (Topsent, 1893) (additional source)
Sarcotragus foetidus Schmidt, 1862 (additional source)
Spirastrella cunctatrix Schmidt, 1868 (additional source)
Spongia (Spongia) nitens (Schmidt, 1862) (additional source)
Spongia (Spongia) virgultosa (Schmidt, 1868) (additional source)
Spongia officinalis Linnaeus, 1759 represented as Spongia (Spongia) officinalis Linnaeus, 1759 (additional source)
Terpios gelatinosa (Bowerbank, 1866) accepted as Terpios gelatinosus (Bowerbank, 1866) (additional source)
Thymosiopsis cuticulatus Vacelet & Pérez, 1998 (additional source)
Timea geministellata Pulitzer-Finali, 1978 (additional source)
Timea unistellata (Topsent, 1892) (additional source)