| Comments |
P.5332 right column 3rd paragraph: "The number of putative species (‘types’) of Symbiodinium in corals as a whole exceeds one hundred (see Table 1), while photosymbiont species diversity in sponges is not well characterized. By comparison, only three Symbiodinium types are known from the two tropical Exaiptasia species (Thornhill et al. 2013). As additional measures of the relative diversity of the coral holobiont, [investigators] have compared the numbers of bacterial cells and OTUs present in different symbioses (Table 1). In corals, the estimates vary based on the compartment studied (mucus, tissue, skeleton) (Koren & Rosenberg 2006, Garren & Azam 2010, Sweet et al. 2011), the sample collection and laboratory processing methods (Sweet et al. 2011) and the enumeration method used (e.g. microscopic counts vs. flow cytometry). In any case, data are currently based on a relatively small number of studies. [They] therefore present a value range where possible (Table 1). While preliminary, it is clear from this comparison that the coral holobiont is among the most diverse symbioses and similarly diverse to the sponge holobiont." See notes beneath table |