Habitat availability underpins the diversity and distribution of benthic marine communities. Sponges are significant structural components of seabeds; therefore, understanding sponge-community associations are important for the effective management of marine biodiversity. Invertebrate communities were quantified from 11 sponge species having distinct morphologies from Ningaloo Reef (tropical) and Rottnest Island (temperate), Western Australia. Communities from substrate adjacent to sponges were additionally sampled for comparisons to sponge-associated fauna. Gross and fine-scale morphological features of sponge host species were quantified to assess their effects on faunal abundance and diversity. A total of 3966 individuals from 125 taxa were extracted, showing low co-occurrences of taxa from both sponges and the surrounding substrate (Ningaloo 8.9%; Rottnest 11.2%). Four out of the 11 sponges supported higher fauna abundance compared to their surrounding substrate, including Haliclona sp. NTM148 (Ningaloo; 1.21 ± 0.54 N.cm−3, 60 × higher than substrate) and Monanchora clathrata (Rottnest; 2.87 ± 1.7 N.cm−3, 32 × higher than substrate). These communities were dominated by the barnacle Acastinae sp.4 (100%) and sedentary polychaete Spionidae sp. 1 (99%), respectively, highlighting strong host-specific associations. Sponge size (volume), % of internal space, minimum diameter of internal space, and gross morphological complexity were important at explaining variation in faunal assemblage, with larger sponges having more internal space of larger minimum canal diameter supporting higher community abundance. This study highlights the significance of large and long-lived sponges as sources of unique marine biodiversity that are yet to be discovered and the importance of sponge gardens for the conservation of cryptic marine biodiversity.

中文翻译：

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浅热带和温带珊瑚礁中的海绵是海洋无脊椎动物生物多样性的重要栖息地

栖息地的可用性巩固了底栖海洋群落的多样性和分布。海绵是海床的重要结构组成部分；因此，了解海绵社区协会对于有效管理海洋生物多样性非常重要。无脊椎动物群落是从 11 种海绵物种中量化的，这些海绵物种来自西澳大利亚州的宁格鲁礁（热带）和罗特尼斯岛（温带），这些海绵物种具有不同的形态。另外对海绵附近基质的群落进行采样，以与海绵相关动物群进行比较。海绵宿主物种的大体和精细形态特征被量化，以评估它们对动物群丰度和多样性的影响。从 125 个分类群中总共提取了 3966 个个体，表明海绵和周围基质（Ningaloo 8. 9%；罗特尼斯 11.2%)。与周围基质（包括 Haliclona sp）相比，11 种海绵中有 4 种支持更高的动物群。NTM148（Ningaloo；1.21 ± 0.54 N.cm−3，比底物高 60 倍）和 Monanchora clathrata（Rottnest；2.87 ± 1.7 N.cm−3，比底物高 32 倍）。这些群落由藤壶 Acastinae sp.4 (100%) 和久坐的多毛类 Spionidae sp. 主导。1 (99%) 分别突出了强大的宿主特定关联。海绵大小（体积）、内部空间的百分比、内部空间的最小直径和总体形态复杂性对于解释动物群落的变化很重要，较大的海绵具有更大的内部空间和更大的最小管径，支持更高的群落丰度。