How a collaborative integrated taxonomic effort has trained new spongiologists and improved knowledge of Martinique Island (French Antilles, eastern Caribbean Sea) marine biodiversity Thierry Perez, Maria-Cristina Diaz, Cesar Ruiz, Baslavi Condor-Lujan, Michelle Klautau, Eduardo Hajdu, Gisele Lobo-Hajdu, Sven Zea, Shirley A. Pomponi, Robert W. Thacker, et al. To cite this version: Thierry Perez, Maria-Cristina Diaz, Cesar Ruiz, Baslavi Condor-Lujan, Michelle Klautau, et al.. How a collaborative integrated taxonomic effort has trained new spongiologists and improved knowledge of Martinique Island (French Antilles, eastern Caribbean Sea) marine biodiversity. PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2017, 12 (3), pp.1-27/e0173859. 10.1371/journal.pone.0173859. hal-01681531 HAL Id: hal-01681531 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01681531 Submitted on 12 Jan 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution| 4.0 International License RESEARCH ARTICLE How a collaborative integrated taxonomic effort has trained new spongiologists and improved knowledge of Martinique Island (French Antilles, eastern Caribbean Sea) marine biodiversity Thierry PeÂrez1☯*, Maria-Cristina DõÂaz2☯, CeÂsar Ruiz1☯, Baslavi CoÂndor-LujaÂn3☯, a1111111111 Michelle Klautau3☯, Eduardo Hajdu4☯, Gisele Lobo-Hajdu5☯, Sven Zea6☯, Shirley a1111111111 A. Pomponi2☯, Robert W. Thacker7☯, Sophie Carteron8☯, Guillaume Tollu9☯, a1111111111 Adeline Pouget-Cuvelier9☯, Philippe TheÂlamon10☯, Jean-Philippe Marechal11☯, Olivier a1111111111 P. Thomas12☯, Alexander V. Ereskovsky1,13☯, Jean Vacelet1☯, Nicole Boury-Esnault1☯ a1111111111 1 Institut MeÂditerraneÂen de Biodiversite et d'Ecologie marine et continentale, CNRS, Aix Marseille Univ, IRD, Avignon Univ. Station Marine d'Endoume, chemin de la Batterie des Lions, Marseille, France, 2 Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Pierce, Florida, United States of America, 3 Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 4 Museu Nacional, Departamento de Invertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de OPEN ACCESS Janeiro. Quinta da Boa Vista, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 5 Departamento de Genetica, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcantara Gomes, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rua São Francisco Xavier, Citation: PeÂrez T, DõÂaz M-C, Ruiz C, CoÂndor-LujaÂn Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6 Instituto de Estudios en Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Nacional de B, Klautau M, Hajdu E, et al. (2017) How a Colombia, Sede Caribe, c/o INVEMAR. Calle 25 2-55, Rodadero Sur, Playa Salguero, Santa Marta, collaborative integrated taxonomic effort has Colombia, 7 Department of Ecology and Evolution, 650 Life Sciences Building, Stony Brook University, Stony trained new spongiologists and improved Brook, New York, United States of America, 8 OTEIS. Les Hauts de la Duranne, 370 rue Rene Descartes, knowledge of Martinique Island (French Antilles, Aix-en-Provence Cedex, France, 9 IMPACT MER. 90, rue du Professeur Raymond Garcin, Route de Didier, Fort-de-France, France, 10 Abyss PlongeÂe. 1 rue des cototiers, Grande Anse, Anses d'Arlet, France, eastern Caribbean Sea) marine biodiversity. PLoS 11 Nova Blue Environment. 14 Rue Chery-Rosette, Fond Lahaye, Schoelcher, France, 12 Marine ONE 12(3): e0173859. https://doi.org/10.1371/ Biodiscovery, National University of Ireland Galway, School of chemistry, College of Science, Galway, journal.pone.0173859 Ireland, 13 Faculty of Biology, Saint-Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, Editor: Roberto Pronzato, University of Genova, Russia ITALY ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. Received: October 8, 2016 * [email protected] Accepted: February 28, 2017 Published: March 22, 2017 Abstract Copyright: © 2017 PeÂrez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Although sponges are important components of benthic ecosystems of the Caribbean Sea, Creative Commons Attribution License, which their diversity remained poorly investigated in the Lesser Antilles. By organizing a training permits unrestricted use, distribution, and course in Martinique, we wanted both to promote taxonomy and to provide a first inventory reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. of the sponge diversity on this island. The course was like a naturalist expedition, with a field laboratory and a classroom nearby. Early-career scientists and environmental managers Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information were trained in sponge taxonomy. We gathered unpublished data and conducted an inven- files. tory at 13 coastal sites. We explored only shallow water habitats (0±30 m), such as man- Funding: Support was provided by the CNRS LIA groves, reefs or rocky bottoms and underwater caves. According to this study, the sponge MARRIO project, TOTAL Foundation, Region La fauna of Martinique is currently represented by a minimum of 191 species, 134 of which we Martinique, DEAL La Martinique, CAR/SPAW could assign species names. One third of the remaining non-identified sponge species we Guadeloupe, COFECUB, Coordination for the consider to be new to science. Martinique appears very remarkable because of its littoral Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), National Council of Technological and marine fauna harboring sponge aggregations with high biomass and species diversity PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173859 March 22, 2017 1 / 27 Marine sponge diversity of Martinique Island Scientific Development (CNPq), and FundacËão dominating over coral species. In mangroves, sponges cover about 10% of the surface of Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do subtidal roots. Several submarine caves are true reservoirs of hidden and insufficiently Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and described sponge diversity. Thanks to this new collaborative effort, the Eastern Caribbean analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the has gained a significant increase of knowledge, with sponge diversity of this area potentially manuscript. representing 40% of the total in the Caribbean Sea. We thus demonstrated the importance Competing interests: The authors have declared of developing exploratory and educational research in areas historically devoid of biodiver- that no competing interests exist. sity inventories and systematics studies. Finally, we believe in the necessity to consider not only the number of species but their distribution in space to evaluate their putative contribu- tion to ecosystem services and our willingness to preserve them. Introduction Whereas the concept of ecosystem services is popularized, scientists and environmentalists often confound their perception of biodiversity by neglecting the importance of taxonomy. When considering the different components of biodiversity, the study of species diversity is a time-consuming activity, which can become a considerable challenge for some taxonomic groups, particularly in regions where large gaps of knowledge and lack of expertise exist [1, 2]. In the past two decades, after the emergence of the DNA barcoding concept, naturalists, and even more taxonomists, have developed new concepts and techniques, such as the so-called ªintegrative taxonomy and systematicsº, to maintain or even improve their effort in describing new species or assemblages. Sponges inhabit all types of aquatic, benthic ecosystems. They can dominate the ocean floors in terms of living biomass and species richness, thus shaping polar, temperate and tropical seascapes [3±5]. In these cases, they are considered keystone components of benthic ecosystem functioning, and powerful suspension feeders, consuming wide ranges of dis- solved and particulate organic matter from the pico-, nano- and micro-planktonic commu- nities Depending on the biogeographic region, they experience either anecdotic (temperate seas) or significant predatory pressures (tropical seas) by sea-slugs, fishes and sea-turtles, among other predators [e.g. 6±8]. In tropical regions, which are usually hotspots of sponge diversity, knowledge of these organisms may be crucial to better understand the putative effects of the global or regional changes, namely climatic anomalies, overfishing or pollution. Sponges are well known to suffer disease outbreaks [9], and are also sometimes considered as key biotic factors threatening endangered reef-building corals [10±12]. In addition, it is also well accepted that sponges provide goods and services with societal benefit. For example, the fact that they are the source of chemical compounds with human health applications stimulates the maintenance of the taxonomic expertise required to describe sponge species diversity. Moreover, their ability to depurate xenobiotics [e.g. 12±14] further justifies the conservation