To understand the evolutionary history and ecology of such lineages, it is key to examine diversity at multiple levels of organization. Within microeukaryotes, genetic and functional variation sometimes accumulate more quickly than morphological differences. The exposure to greater environmental variability near the surface may explain the higher symbiont diversity found Furthermore, symbiotic associations were more heterogeneous at shallow sites, relative to deep Greater environmental fluctuations in Florida may explain the observed changesĪmong some of the symbioses. franksi in Florida and at other Caribbean locations. Over several years, a putatively stress-tolerant clade D type of Symbiodinium was progressively replaced in these colonies by symbionts typically found in M.

franksi from the Florida Keys exhibited shifts in their associations attributed to recovery from the stresses of the 1997–1998 El Repetitive sampling from most labeled colonies from the Bahamas and the Florida Keys showed little to no change in theirĭominant symbiont. Gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting of the internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) of ribosomal RNA gene Symbionts were identified genetically using denaturing The genetic identity of Symbiodinium from six coral species was examined seasonally over five years (19–2004) in the Bahamas and Florida Keys at shallow (1 toĤm) fore-reef/patch reef sites and at deeper fore-reef (12–15m) locations.

This report documents the extent to which coral colonies show fluctuations in their associations with different endosymbioticĭinoflagellates.

Lineage w baha tw