Understanding how diversity evolves and is maintained is critical to predicting the future
trajectories of ecosystems under climate change; however, our understanding of these …

Abstract The biodiversity of Red Sea corals captured the attention of some of the earliest
European natural historians. Many of the first descriptions of tropical reef corals were based …

Coral reefs are the epitome of species diversity, yet the number of described scleractinian
coral species, the framework-builders of coral reefs, remains moderate by comparison. DNA …

Variation among functionally similar species in their response to environmental stress
buffers ecosystems from changing states. Functionally similar species may often be cryptic …

Accurate delimitation of species and their relationships is a fundamental issue in
evolutionary biology and taxonomy and provides essential implications for conservation …

Introduction The Red Sea is a narrow rift basin characterized by latitudinal environmental
gradients which shape the diversity and distribution of reef-dwelling organisms. Studies on …

Coralline algae perform important ecological roles in nearshore marine ecosystems globally
by promoting the settlement of invertebrate larvae and enhancing biodiversity by creating …

Scleractinian corals are a diverse group of ecologically important yet highly threatened
marine invertebrates, which can be challenging to identify to the species level. An influx of …

Largely understudied, mesophotic coral ecosystems lie below shallow reefs (at> 30 m
depth) and comprise ecologically distinct communities. Brooding reproductive modes …

Coral reefs are the most diverse ecosystem on the planet based on the abundance and
diversity of phyla and higher taxa. However, it is still difficult to assess the diversity of lower …