Figure 4.

Vulnerability of coral reef microbial phylogenetic richness to loss of fishes and scleratinian corals. (a) Mean (±s.d.) of remaining prokaryotic phylogenetic richness on the studied coral reef for a given proportion of animal taxa lost according to the simulated erosion scenario (100 replicates). When 100% of coral and fish species included in the scenario are lost, the remaining microbial phylogenetic richness corresponds to the one of prokaryotic communities associated with plankton and animal taxa that were not included in the extinction scenario (i.e. 24% of taxa, corresponding to Isopora, soft corals, gorgonians, anemone and all non-anthozoan invertebrates). Scenario simulating a random loss of fishes and corals (i.e. species removed independently from their vulnerability) is illustrated with the grey area representing the range of remaining phylogenetic richness among 100 replicates. (b) Mean (solid line) ±s.d. (shaded area) of slopes of phylogenetic richness loss calculated at each level of extinction on all 100 replicates. The same analyses based on unrarefied data and on ASV richness are provided in electronic supplementary material, SM2-10 and 11. (Online version in colour.)