Evolution and ecology of cleaning symbioses in the sea
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| Authors: | Côté, IM |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Journal: | Oceanography and Marine Biology, Vol 38 38: 311-355 |
| Title: | Evolution and ecology of cleaning symbioses in the sea |
| Abstract: | Cleaning symbioses are among the most intriguing interspecific interactions. Understanding their evolution has been hindered by the difficulty in identifying universal costs and benefits derived by both participants in a cleaning interaction. Their ecological role, especially within reef communities where cleaning symbioses are particularly prominent, is also not well known. This paper reviews studies of cleaning interactions (a) to examine the taxonomic distribution of cleaning behaviour, (b) to assess the magnitude and generality of various costs and benefits to cleaners and their clients in order to gain insights into the evolution of these symbioses, and (e) evaluate the role of cleaning in structuring fish communities. A total of 131 species of fishes and crustaceans have so far been described as cleaners. The majority are facultative cleaners, which glean only a small part of their food by cleaning as juveniles. Cleaners are widely distributed taxonomically, suggesting that cleaning has evolved independently several times. A paired contrasts analysis supports the idea that a small body may pre-adapt species to become cleaners, but only among facultative cleaners. There is, however, no evidence of a guild coloration in facultative cleaners, although the status of obligate cleaners appears to be signalled by the presence of bright lateral body stripes. Cleaners gain food from cleaning, with obligate cleaners obtaining on average 85% of their food from client-gleaned items, Of these, ectoparasites constitute the major proportion. There are several recorded instances of predation on cleaners by potential clients which may occur mainly during non-cleaning interactions. On the whole, however, rates of predation on cleaners are extremely low. This suggests that cleaners accrue a net benefit from cleaning. For clients, the main expected benefit of being cleaned is a reduction in ectoparasite load but this has been difficult to show due to methodological problems in quantifying ectoparasite intensity. In addition, this benefit may be measurable only in areas with naturally high rates of parasitism, such as the Great Barrier Roof where a net decrease in parasites on clients cleaned was measured recently. There is no direct evidence that the costs potentially incurred by clients when visiting cleaning stations are very high. Cleaning stations do not appear to play more than a very small role in determining the distribution of reef fishes. Although greater diversity and abundance of fishes are often found near cleaning stations, the removal of cleaners does not generally result in shifts in client species distribution. Over three decades of research on cleaning symbioses have yet to reveal unambiguously the nature of these interactions, Progress may have been slow, because of a reluctance to tackle directly the dynamics of ectoparasites. Recent studies using this approach have been fruitful. Cleaning symbioses may best be seen as co-evolutionary mosaics that vary temporally and geographically according to environmental circumstances. |
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