Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Sponge Host Characteristics Shape The Community Structure Of Their Shrimp Associates, Kristen M. Hultgren, J. Emmett Duffy

VIMS Articles

Both body size and habitat architecture have pervasive effects on the form, function, and interactions of organisms, and can play especially important roles in structuring intimate associations between host organisms and their obligate associates. In this study, we examined how body size is related to host use in a diverse clade of closely related snapping shrimp species (Synalpheus) that live in the interior canals of sponges. Using data from an extensive survey of sponge-dwelling Synalpheus from Jamaica, we tested how sponge morphology (interior canal size and individual sponge volume) was related to the identity and diversity of Synalpheus …