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Although mesophotic coral ecosystems account for approximately 80% of coral reefs, they remain largely unexplored due to their challenging accessibility. The acoustic richness within reefs has led scientists to consider passive acoustic monitoring as a reliable method for studying both altiphotic and mesophotic coral reefs. We investigated the relationship between benthic invertebrate sounds (1.5–22.5 kHz), depth, and benthic cover composition, key ecological factors that determine differences between altiphotic and mesophotic reefs. Diel patterns of snaps and peak frequencies were also explored at different depths to assess variations in biorhythms. Acoustic recorders were deployed at 20 m, 60 m, and 120 m depths across six islands in French Polynesia. The results indicated that depth is the primary driver of differences in broadband transient sound (BTS) soundscapes, with sound intensity decreasing as depth increases. At 20–60 m, sounds were louder at night. At 120 m depth, benthic activity rhythms exhibited low or highly variable levels of diel variation, likely a consequence of reduced solar irradiation. On three islands, a peculiar peak in the number of BTS was observed every day between 7 and 9 PM at 120 m, suggesting the presence of cyclic activities of a specific species. Our results support the existence of different invertebrate communities or distinct behaviors, particularly in deep mesophotic reefs. Overall, this study adds to the growing evidence supporting the use of passive acoustic monitoring to describe and understand ecological patterns in mesophotic reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems remain largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to determine how the acoustic fish biodiversity varied depending on the depth and the type of island in six Polynesian islands. The link between benthic cover and fish sound diversity was established. In most islands, acoustic fish α-diversity decreased between 20 and 60 m but not between 60 and 120 m. Fish sound types community composition was more driven by depth, likely due to benthic coral cover differences, than by the type of island. These results show fish sounds exhibit a bathymetric stratification and can reflect different habitat features. It opens perspectives in the monitoring of mesophotic coral ecosystems using passive acoustics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This correction notice is for an article titled "Invertebrate sounds from photic to mesophotic coral reefs reveal vertical stratification and diel diversity" published in the journal Oecologia. The correction addresses an error in the author list, where the institutional author 'Under The Pole Consortium' was incorrectly placed at the end instead of the 5th original position. The original article has been corrected. The authors of the article are Xavier Raick, Éric Parmentier, Cédric Gervaise, David Lecchini, G Bardout, J Fauchet, A Ferucci, F Gazzola, G Lagarrigue, J Leblond, E Marivint, A Mittau, N Mollon, N Paulme, E Périé-Bardout, R Pete, S Pujolle, G Siu, Gonzalo Pérez-Rosales, Héloïse Rouzé, Frédéric Bertucci, and Lucia Di Iorio. [Extracted from the article]

The symbiosis between scleractinian corals and photosynthetic algae from the family Symbiodiniaceae underpins the health and productivity of tropical coral reef ecosystems. While this photosymbiotic association has been extensively studied in shallow waters (<30 m depth), we do not know how deeper corals, inhabiting large and vastly underexplored mesophotic coral ecosystems, modulate their symbiotic associations to grow in environments that receive less than 1% of surface irradiance. Here we report on the deepest photosymbiotic scleractinian corals collected to date (172 m depth), and use amplicon sequencing to identify the associated symbiotic communities. The corals, identified as Leptoseris hawaiiensis, were confirmed to host Symbiodiniaceae, predominantly of the genus Cladocopium, a single species of endolithic algae from the genus Ostreobium, and diverse communities of prokaryotes. Our results expand the reported depth range of photosynthetic scleractinian corals (0–172 m depth), and provide new insights on their symbiotic associations at the lower depth extremes of tropical coral reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]