Confirmation of the southern African distribution of the marine sponge Hymeniacidon perlevis (Montagu, 1814) in the context of its global dispersal

Toufiek Samaai; Thomas L Turner; Jyothi Kara; Dawit Yemane; Benedicta Biligwe Ngwakum; Robyn P Payne; Sven Kerwath

doi:10.7717/peerj.14388

Confirmation of the southern African distribution of the marine sponge Hymeniacidon perlevis (Montagu, 1814) in the context of its global dispersal

PeerJ. 2022 Nov 25:10:e14388. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14388. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Toufiek Samaai^{1

2

3

4}, Thomas L Turner⁵, Jyothi Kara³, Dawit Yemane⁶, Benedicta Biligwe Ngwakum⁷, Robyn P Payne², Sven Kerwath⁶

Affiliations

¹ Biology Department, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
² Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
³ Department of Research and Exhibitions, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
⁴ Oceans & Coasts Research, Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
⁵ Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
⁶ Fisheries Research and Development, Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.

Abstract

Background: Intertidal rocky shore surveys along the South African coastline (∼3,000 km) have demonstrated the presence and abundance of the encrusting orange sponge Hymeniacidon perlevis (Montagu, 1814), a well-known globally distributed species. After analysing the southern African populations, we gained a better understanding of the genetic structure of this now-accepted global species. Apart from confirming the presence of a single population of H. perlevis, we also determined its distribution in the southern African intertidal rocky shore ecosystem, compared its genetic diversity to congeners, predict its global distribution via environmental niche modelling, and discussed possible underlying mechanisms controlling the species' global distribution.

Methods: We surveyed the South African coastline and sampled sponges at 53 rocky shore sites spanning over 3,000 km, from Grosse Bucht south of Lüderitz (Namibia) to Kosi Bay on the east coast of South Africa. DNA sequences of the nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) and the COI mitochondrial gene were obtained from 61 samples and compared them to a world-wide sample of other H. perlevis sequences. Using environmental predictor variables from the global dataset BIO-ORACLE, we predicted the probability of global occurrence of the species using an ensemble of eight distribution models.

Results: South African specimens were found to be 99-100% identical to other populations of H. perlevis (=H. sinapium) from other world-wide regions. The presence of a single population of H. perlevis in southern Africa is supported by genetic data, extending its distribution to a relatively wide geographical range spanning more than 4,000 km along the temperate southern African coast. The predicted global occurrence by ensemble model matched well with the observed distribution. Surface temperature mean and range were the most important predictor variables.

Conclusion: While H. perlevis appears to have been introduced in many parts of the world, its origins in Europe and southern Africa are unclear.

Keywords: Barcoding; COI; Haplotype networks; ITS; Population structure; Porifera; Rocky intertidal area; Southern Africa; Temperate coasts.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Africa, Southern
Animals
DNA, Ribosomal
Ecosystem*
Porifera* / genetics
South Africa

Substances

DNA, Ribosomal

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the South African National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Oceans and Coasts Research, the National Research Foundation (grant numbers 129932) and forms part of the Marine Biodiversity Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.