Document of bibliographic reference 367783

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Bathymetric evolution of black corals through deep time

Abstract

Deep-sea lineages are generally thought to arise from shallow-water ancestors, but this hypothesis is based on a relatively small number of taxonomic groups. Anthozoans, which include corals and sea anemones, are significant contributors to the faunal diversity of the deep sea, but the timing and mechanisms of their invasion into this biome remain elusive. Here, we reconstruct a fully resolved, time-calibrated phylogeny of 83 species in the order Antipatharia (black coral) to investigate their bathymetric evolutionary history. Our reconstruction indicates that extant black coral lineages first diversified in continental slope depths (∼250–3000 m) during the early Silurian (∼437 millions of years ago (Ma)) and subsequently radiated into, and diversified within, both continental shelf (less than 250 m) and abyssal (greater than 3000 m) habitats. Ancestral state reconstruction analysis suggests that the appearance of morphological features that enhanced the ability of black corals to acquire nutrients coincided with their invasion of novel depths. Our findings have important conservation implications for anthozoan lineages, as the loss of ‘source’ slope lineages could threaten millions of years of evolutionary history and confound future invasion events, thereby warranting protection.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001076755200003

Bibliographic citation

Horowitz, J.; Quattrini, A.M.; Brugler, M.R.; Miller, D.J.; Pahang, K.; Bridge, T.C.L.; Cowman, P.F. (2023). Bathymetric evolution of black corals through deep time. Proc. - Royal Soc., Biol. Sci. 290(2008): 20231107. https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1107

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true