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SYMBIOSIS ECOLOGY OF SELECTED SCYPHOZOALucija Raspor Dall'Olio, 2016, doctoral dissertation
Abstract: Scyphozoa with symbionts have an advantage in oligotrophic environments due to the additional source of nutrients provided by their symbiontic algae, just as corals have benefits from their symbionts. The literature, however, has thus far devoted far less attention to the association between scyphozoan hosts and Symbiodinium sp. than it does to corals. This thesis investigated the identity of symbionts from scyphozoan medusae (Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Phyllorhiza punctata and Cassiopea xamachana) using a phylogenetic approach. Two scyphozoan species, P. punctata and C. tuberculata, were sampled over the Mediterranean Sea, while Cassiopea xamachana was sampled in the Atlantic Ocean. Symbionts were identified from live medusae and their identity and phylogenetic relationships were determined by analysing two nuclear markers, ITS2 and 28S rDNA, from symbionts. Symbiodinium sp. sequences belong to clades A, B, and C based on markers ITS2 and 28S rDNA. Moreover, individual medusae host only one type Symbiodinium (A, B or C). Host species from the Mediterranean Sea hosted Symbiodinium from clade A and B (C. tuberculata) or only from clade A (Phyllorhiza punctata), while the host from the Atlantic Ocean (C. xamachana) hosted Symbiodinium from clade B or C. The phylogeography of C. tuberculata medusae was analysed using mtCO1. All the haplotypes sampled over the Mediterranean Sea were clustered together without any sign of phylogeographic structuring.
Keywords: Scyphozoa, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Symbiodinium sp., symbiosis, Mediterranean Sea, phylogeography, CO1, 28S rDNA, ITS regions
Published in RUNG: 03.10.2016; Views: 6197; Downloads: 370
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