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© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Weber, L., Gonzalez-Diaz, P., Armenteros, M., & Apprill, A. The coral ecosphere: a unique coral reef habitat that fosters coral-microbial interactions. Limnology and Oceanography, 64(6), (2019): 2373-2388, doi: 10.1002/lno.11190., Scleractinian corals are bathed in a sea of planktonic and particle‐associated microorganisms. The metabolic products of corals influence the growth and composition of microorganisms, but interactions between corals and seawater microorganisms are underexplored. We conducted a field‐based survey to compare the biomass, diversity, composition, and functional capacity of microorganisms in small‐volume seawater samples collected adjacent to five coral species with seawater collected > 1 m away from the reef substrate on the same reefs. Seawater collected close to corals generally harbored copiotrophic‐type bacteria and its bacterial and archaeal composition was influenced by coral species as well as the local reef environment. Trends in picoplankton abundances were variable and either increased or decreased away from coral colonies based on coral species and picoplankton functional group. Genes characteristic of surface‐attached and potentially virulent microbial lifestyles were enriched in near‐coral seawater compared to reef seawater. There was a prominent association between the coral Porites astreoides and the coral symbiont Endozoicomonas, suggesting recruitment and/or shedding of these cells into the surrounding seawater. This evidence extends our understanding of potential species‐specific and reef site‐influenced microbial interactions that occur between corals and microorganisms within this near‐coral seawater environment that we propose to call the “coral ecosphere.” Microbial interactions that occur within the coral ecosphere could influence recruitment of coral‐associated microorganisms and facilitate the transfer of coral metabolites into the microbial food web, thus fostering reef biogeochemical cycling and a linkage between corals and the water column., This project was funded by the Dalio Foundation through the Dalio Ocean Initiative, which helped establish a new partnership between U.S. and Cuban scientists. Data analysis and manuscript preparation support was provided by NSF GRFP award to L. W. and NSF OCE‐1736288 to A. A. Special thanks to our colleague Alyson Santoro (University of California, Santa Barbara) for project advice and discussion, Fernando Bretos (The Ocean Foundation) for cruise conceptualization and organization, and Justin Ossolinski, Sean McNally, Thomas Lankiewicz, as well as the fellow scientists on the missions for field assistance. Thanks to the crew of the R/V Felipe Poey as well as the La Reina vessel and the Avalon diving center. We are grateful for Karen Selph of the University of Hawai‘i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology for training in flow cytometry methods and Chris Wright and the University of Illinois W. M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics for sequencing support. We would also like to thank Greg Fournier, Elizabeth Kujawinski, and Stefan Sievert for comments on this manuscript.

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Weber, L., González-Díaz, P., Armenteros, M., Ferrer, V. M., Bretos, F., Bartels, E., Santoro, A. E., & Apprill, A. Microbial signatures of protected and impacted Northern Caribbean reefs: changes from Cuba to the Florida Keys. Environmental Microbiology, 22(1), (2019): 499-519, doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.14870., There are a few baseline reef‐systems available for understanding the microbiology of healthy coral reefs and their surrounding seawater. Here, we examined the seawater microbial ecology of 25 Northern Caribbean reefs varying in human impact and protection in Cuba and the Florida Keys, USA, by measuring nutrient concentrations, microbial abundances, and respiration rates as well as sequencing bacterial and archaeal amplicons and community functional genes. Overall, seawater microbial composition and biogeochemistry were influenced by reef location and hydrogeography. Seawater from the highly protected ‘crown jewel’ offshore reefs in Jardines de la Reina, Cuba had low concentrations of nutrients and organic carbon, abundant Prochlorococcus, and high microbial community alpha diversity. Seawater from the less protected system of Los Canarreos, Cuba had elevated microbial community beta‐diversity whereas waters from the most impacted nearshore reefs in the Florida Keys contained high organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations and potential microbial functions characteristic of microbialized reefs. Each reef system had distinct microbial signatures and within this context, we propose that the protection and offshore nature of Jardines de la Reina may preserve the oligotrophic paradigm and the metabolic dependence of the community on primary production by picocyanobacteria., We thank Justin Ossolinski, Sean McNally, Tom Lankiewicz, Lázaro García, and the crew from R/V Felipe Poey for assistance with sample collection and processing. We thank Marlin Nauticas and Marinas for the use of their dive facilities. We thank Chris Wright, Mark Band, and staff at the University of Illinois W. M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics for sequencing assistance, Karen Selph for training in flow cytometry, Krista Longnecker for TOC and TN analyses, and Joe Jennings for nutrient analyses. Funding was provided to A.A. and A.E.S. by a Dalio Explore award from the Dalio Foundation (now 'OceanX') and analysis time was supported with the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship award to L.W. and NSF award OCE 1736288 to A.A. Research was conducted under the LH112 AN (25) 2015 licence granted by the Cuban Center for Inspection and Environmental Control.