Dataset: Coral Sample Microbiome

A number of tropical reefs have transitioned from coral to macroalgal dominance, but the role of macroalgal competition in coral decline is debated. There is a need to understand the relative roles of direct coral-algal effects versus indirect, microbially mediated, effects shaping these interactions, as well as the relevant scales at which interactions operate under natural field, as opposed to laboratory, conditions. We conducted a manipulative field experiment investigating how direct contact versus close proximity (approx. 1.5 cm) macroalgae (Galaxaura rugosa, Sargassum polycystum) impacted the growth, photosynthetic efficiency and prokaryotic microbiome of the common Indo-Pacific coral Acropora millepora. [From NCBI BioProject description, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/630766]