• Energy Research
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Significance Species loss can weaken the trophic interactions that underpin ecosystem functioning. Coral reefs are the world’s most diverse marine ecosystem, harboring interaction networks of extraordinary complexity. We show that, despite this complexity, global coral reef food webs are governed by a suite of highly consistent energetic pathways, regardless of regional differences in biodiversity. All networks are characterized by species with narrow dietary preferences, arranged into distinct groups of predator–prey interactions. These characteristics suggest that coral reef food webs are robust to the loss of prey resources but vulnerable to local extinctions of consumer species.

In the present work we examined the efficacy of three different chemical solutions (EtOH 70%, DMSO-NaCl solution, and Longmire buffer) in field preservation of fish gills to be subsequently screened for monogenean specimens destined to morphological and molecular analyses. Degree of difficulty in collecting monogeneans from gills, morphological state of parasites, integrity of their DNA and reliability of sequence reading were observed and qualitatively compared to those of gills and parasites stored in 5% formalin and 99% ethanol. Data were collected over a period of 2 months. Storage in Longmire buffer resulted in dissociation of gills and parasites, while both DMSO and 70% ethanol provided a fine physical and molecular preservation of gills and monogeneans, allowing rapid collection of parasites from lamellae, and easy extraction, amplification and sequencing of parasitic DNA.