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Journal ArticleDOI

Marine chemical ecology: chemical signals and cues structure marine populations, communities, and ecosystems.

25 Mar 2009-Annual Review of Marine Science (Annual Reviews)-Vol. 1, Iss: 1, pp 193-212
TL;DR: How chemical cues regulate critical aspects of the behavior of marine organisms from bacteria to phytoplankton to benthic invertebrates and water column fishes is reviewed.
Abstract: Chemical cues constitute much of the language of life in the sea. Our understanding of biotic interactions and their effects on marine ecosystems will advance more rapidly if this language is studied and understood. Here, I review how chemical cues regulate critical aspects of the behavior of marine organisms from bacteria to phytoplankton to benthic invertebrates and water column fishes. These chemically mediated interactions strongly affect population structure, community organization, and ecosystem function. Chemical cues determine foraging strategies, feeding choices, commensal associations, selection of mates and habitats, competitive interactions, and transfer of energy and nutrients within and among ecosystems. In numerous cases, the indirect effects of chemical signals on behavior have as much or more effect on community structure and function as the direct effects of consumers and pathogens. Chemical cues are critical for understanding marine systems, but their omnipresence and impact are inadequ...

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Journal ArticleDOI
21 Jun 2021-Oikos
TL;DR: It is suggested that the J–C hypothesis, with demonstrated importance for plants, is partially upheld for reef corals, as the proximity to established conspecific adults, settler density and species diversity of propagules are relevant drivers of local coral community diversity and structure.
Abstract: In many plant and sessile marine invertebrate (SMI) taxa, population and community dynamics are heavily influenced by processes occurring during the dispersal and establishment phases. The Janzen–Connell (J–C) hypothesis predicts increased survival of early life stages with decreasing conspecific density and increased distance from conspecific adults. Evidence of J–C effects in maintaining diversity is common in plant communities, but its importance in SMI communities remains unclear. Under controlled aquarium conditions, we examined the effect of density-dependence and adult conspecific water treatments (absent/present) on propagule settlement success and settler post-settlement survival, along with associated spatial patterns, for six broadcast-spawning, reef-building coral species from three families. We also tested if settlement success was linked to increasing propagule species diversity for three coral species from two families. We found that the probability of settlement was density independent and not influenced by adult present water treatments. Yet, adult present water treatments and settler density did have a synergistic negative effect on the probability of short-term settler survival for all species examined. Settlers also showed greater spatial aggregation as their numbers increased, but were less aggregated in adult present water treatments compared to those in adult absent water treatments. We further show evidence of significant species interactions among propagules, as settlement in single-species trials was four-fold higher compared to mixed-species trials. Our findings from controlled experimental arenas indicate that the early establishment of corals was predominantly limited by density-dependent settler–adult interactions among conspecifics and propagule–propagule interactions among heterospecifics. Thus, the proximity to established conspecific adults, settler density and species diversity of propagules are relevant drivers of local coral community diversity and structure. Based on these outcomes, we suggest that the J–C hypothesis, with demonstrated importance for plants, is partially upheld for reef corals.

3 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Human use of coastal areas alters natural chemical cues, negatively affecting the behavioural responses of larval fishes and potentially suppressing recruitment, which highlights the critical links that exist between marine and terrestrial habitats.
Abstract: Human-driven threats to coastal marine communities could potentially affect chemically mediated behaviours that have evolved to facilitate crucial ecological processes. Chemical cues and their importance remain inadequately understood in marine systems, but cues from coastal vegetation can provide sensory information guiding aquatic animals to key resources or habitats. In the tropics, mangroves are a ubiquitous component of healthy coastal ecosystems, associated with a range of habitats from river mouths to coral reefs. Because mangrove leaf litter is a predictable cue to coastal habitats, chemical information from mangrove leaves could provide a source of settlement cues for coastal fishes, drawing larvae towards shallow benthic habitats or inducing settlement. In choice assays, juvenile fishes from the Caribbean (Belize) and Indo-Pacific (Fiji) were attracted to cues from mangroves leaves and were more attracted to cues from mangroves distant from human settlement. In the field, experimental reefs supplemented with mangrove leaves grown away from humans attracted more fish recruits from a greater diversity of species than reefs supplemented with leaves grown near humans. Together, this suggests that human use of coastal areas alters natural chemical cues, negatively affecting the behavioural responses of larval fishes and potentially suppressing recruitment. Overall, our findings highlight the critical links that exist between marine and terrestrial habitats, and the importance of considering these in the broader conservation and management of coastal ecosystems.

3 citations

Dissertation
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The results are shown in the table below, which summarizes the results of the studies carried out at the 2015 USGS workshop on quantitative hazard assessments of earthquake-triggered landsliding and liquefaction in the Czech Republic.
Abstract: ............................................................................................................. i Table of

3 citations

Posted ContentDOI
21 Jul 2021-bioRxiv
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate how flows and rheotaxis responses impact on an aquatic population's ability to form and maintain an aggregated profile, and develop and analyse a mathematical model that incorporates these factors.
Abstract: Dispersed populations often need to organise into groups. Chemical attractants provide one means of directing individuals into an aggregate, but whether these structures emerge can depend on various factors, such as there being a sufficiently large population or the response to the attractant being sufficiently sensitive. In an aquatic environment, fluid flow may heavily impact on population distribution and many aquatic organisms adopt a rheotaxis response when exposed to a current, orienting and swimming according to the flow field. Consequently, flow-induced transport could be substantially different for the population members and any aggregating signal they secrete. With the aim of investigating how flows and rheotaxis responses impact on an aquatic population9s ability to form and maintain an aggregated profile, we develop and analyse a mathematical model that incorporates these factors. Through a systematic analysis into the effect of introducing rheotactic behaviour under various forms of environmental flow, we demonstrate that each of flow and rheotaxis can act beneficially or detrimentally on the ability to form and maintain a cluster. Synthesising these findings, we test a hypothesis that density-dependent rheotaxis may be optimal for group formation and maintenance, in which individuals increase their rheotactic effort as they approach an aggregated state.

3 citations

References
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Journal Article

839 citations


"Marine chemical ecology: chemical s..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…to chemical cues from specific hosts, or corals that settle in response to chemical traits of specific crustose coralline algae, or of soft-substrate animals that recruit to or avoid sands treated with specific chemical cues or extracts (e.g., Pawlik 1992, Krug & Manzi 1999, Hadfield & Paul 2001)....

    [...]

  • ...In aquatic systems, chemical cues determine feeding, habitat, and mating choices (e.g., Hay & Fenical 1988, 1996; Pawlik 1992; Breithaupt & Thiel 2008)....

    [...]

  • ...…stimulating feeding once prey have been contacted; compounds responsible for attraction from a distance have rarely been investigated for adult specialist consumers [compounds that cue larval settlement have been investigated; see Pawlik (1992), Krug & Manzi (1999), and Hadfield & Paul (2001)]....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that the best way to protect salt marshes and the services they provide is through the integrated approach of ecosystem-based management.
Abstract: Salt marshes are among the most abundant, fertile, and accessible coastal habitats on earth, and they provide more ecosystem services to coastal populations than any other environment. Since the Middle Ages, humans have manipulated salt marshes at a grand scale, altering species composition, distribution, and ecosystem function. Here, we review historic and contemporary human activities in marsh ecosystems—exploitation of plant products; conversion to farmland, salt works, and urban land; introduction of non-native species; alteration of coastal hydrology; and metal and nutrient pollution. Unexpectedly, diverse types of impacts can have a similar consequence, turning salt marsh food webs upside down, dramatically increasing top down control. Of the various impacts, invasive species, runaway consumer effects, and sea level rise represent the greatest threats to salt marsh ecosystems. We conclude that the best way to protect salt marshes and the services they provide is through the integrated approach of ecosystem-based management.

770 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Although numerous seaweed characteristics can deter some herbivores, the effects of morphology and chemistry have been studied most thoroughly and these types of seaweeds may be considered herbivore tolerant.
Abstract: Herbivory has a profound effect on seaweeds in both temperate and tropical communities (11, 17, 21, 33, 43, 47, 80, 124). This is especially true on coral reefs where 60-97% (11, 42) of the total seaweed production may be removed by herbivores. To persist in marine communities, seaweeds must escape, deter, or tolerate herbivory. The ecological and evolutionary importance of spatial and temporal escapes has been extensively studied for seaweeds and adequately reviewed in the recent literature (33, 45, 47, 71, 80). The ability of seaweeds to tolerate herbivory has received limited attention. On coral reefs, rapidly growing filamentous algae are heavily grazed, but the algae quickly replace these losses and appear to be dependent upon herbivores to prevent their habitat from being overgrown by larger but less herbivoretolerant species (11, 71). Additionally, several seaweeds have spores or vegetative portions that can withstand gut passage; in some cases this significantly increases the growth rates of the newly settled spores (6, 122). These types of seaweeds may be considered herbivore tolerant. Although numerous seaweed characteristics can deter some herbivores, the effects of morphology and chemistry have been studied most thoroughly. The

722 citations


"Marine chemical ecology: chemical s..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In aquatic systems, chemical cues determine feeding, habitat, and mating choices (e.g., Hay & Fenical 1988, 1996; Pawlik 1992; Breithaupt & Thiel 2008)....

    [...]

  • ...…on the plants they consume and that are especially susceptible to predation suggest that feeding preferences are commonly driven by the need to colonize hosts that provide escapes from consumers rather than by the direct food value of those hosts (see also Hay & Fenical 1988, 1996; Hay 1992, 1996)....

    [...]

  • ...In the past 20 years, the review of selected aspects of marine chemical ecology has become a growth industry (e.g., Hay & Fenical 1988, 1996; Paul 1992; Hay 1996; McClintock & Baker 2001; Paul et al. 2007; Pohnert et al. 2007; Amsler 2008), with numerous reviews focusing on specific groups…...

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The contention that furanones, at the concentrations produced by the alga, can control bacterial colonization of surfaces by specifically interfering with AHL-mediated gene expression at the level of the LuxR protein is supported.
Abstract: Summary: Acylated homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated gene expression controls phenotypes involved in colonization, often specifically of higher organisms, in both marine and terrestrial environments. The marine red alga Delisea pulchra produces halogenated furanones which resemble AHLs structurally and show inhibitory activity at ecologically realistic concentrations in AHL bioassays. Evidence is presented that halogenated furanones displace tritiated OHHL [N-3- (oxohexanoy1)-L-homoserine lactone] from Escherichia coli cells overproducing LuxR with potencies corresponding to their respective inhibitory activities in an AHL-regulated bioluminescence assay, indicating that this is the mechanism by which furanones inhibit AHL-dependent phenotypes. Alternative mechanisms for this phenomenon are also addressed. General metabolic disruption was assessed with two-dimensional PAGE, revealing limited non- AHL-related effects. A direct chemical interaction between the algal compounds and AHLs, as monitored by 1H NMR spectroscopy, was shown not to occur in vitro. These results support the contention that furanones, at the concentrations produced by the alga, can control bacterial colonization of surfaces by specifically interfering with AHL-mediated gene expression at the level of the LuxR protein.

612 citations


"Marine chemical ecology: chemical s..." refers background in this paper

  • ...This inhibition occurs because halogenated furanones interfere with the bacteria’s signal-based regulatory systems that control surface motility, exoenzyme production, and biofilm formation/stability (Manefield et al. 1999, 2002; Rasmussen et al. 2000; McDougald et al. 2001)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review concludes that relatively unstudied, ontogenetic shifts in concentrations and types of defenses occur in marine species, and patterns of larval chemical defenses appear to provide insights into the evolution of complex life cycles and of differing modes of development among marine invertebrates.

607 citations


"Marine chemical ecology: chemical s..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…on the plants they consume and that are especially susceptible to predation suggest that feeding preferences are commonly driven by the need to colonize hosts that provide escapes from consumers rather than by the direct food value of those hosts (see also Hay & Fenical 1988, 1996; Hay 1992, 1996)....

    [...]

  • ...In other instances the larvae are chemically defended, but the adults are not and appear instead to rely more on physical/structural defenses (Lindquist & Hay 1996)....

    [...]

  • ...…past 20 years, the review of selected aspects of marine chemical ecology has become a growth industry (e.g., Hay & Fenical 1988, 1996; Paul 1992; Hay 1996; McClintock & Baker 2001; Paul et al. 2007; Pohnert et al. 2007; Amsler 2008), with numerous reviews focusing on specific groups (seaweeds…...

    [...]

  • ...Once larvae or embryos are released from brooding adults, they can be at considerable risk of predation in the plankton, but even more so as they recruit to the benthos where both fish and invertebrate predators are commonly concentrated (Lindquist & Hay 1996)....

    [...]

  • ...…of resistance to host chemical defenses, selective consumption of those hosts, being cued to feed by the specific host chemicals that deter other consumers, and sequestration by the specialist of its host’s chemical defenses, thus becoming immune to many of its own enemies (Hay 1992, 1996)....

    [...]