An assessment of the aquaculture potential of the tropical sponges Rhopaloeides odorabile and Coscinoderma sp.

Louden, D.; Whalan, Steve W; Evans-Illidge, Elizabeth; Wolff, Carsten; Nys, Rocky de

doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2007.02.038

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At each location these explants were placed into plastic moulded recovery cages (Aqua-Tech) anchored to the sea floor at 9 m (the same depth at which these sponges were collected). Explants were left in these cages for 7 wk to allow their damaged surfaces to heal and recover (Louden et al 2007).In March 2007, 7 wk after excising sponge explants, individual explants were collected and transported back to the aquarium facilities at James Cook University in aerated seawater. Sponges were placed into separate 30 l aquaria (5 sponges aquarium -1 ) and acclimated at the same conditions for 3 d prior to conducting oxygen evolution measurements.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Incongruence between the distribution of a common coral reef sponge and photosynthesis

Bannister¹,

Hoogenboom²,

Anthony³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Symbiosis between coral reef fauna and microorganisms drives the growth, maintenance and diversity of coral reef habitats. Sponges, a key faunal component of coral reefs, form complex symbiotic relationships with microorganisms which may supply over half of their nutritional requirements through photosynthesis. The habitat distribution of the coral reef sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile correlates with light availability, suggestive of photosynthesis. The present study directly investigated the hypothesis that habitat distribution of R. odorabile is correlated with photosynthesis. Results of photorespirometry trials of 30 ind. exposed to light intensities between 0 and 900 µmol photons m -2 s -1 showed no evidence of photosynthesis. Furthermore, no photopigments were present in these sponges and no cyanobacteria could be detected within the tissue. These results did not vary between sponges collected from nutrient rich inner-and mid-shelf reefs, or from oligotrophic outershelf reefs. These findings demonstrate that R. odorabile is not a phototrophic sponge and that habitat distributions clearly correlated with light can be due to factors other than photosynthesis.KEY WORDS: Symbiosis · Photosynthesis · Porifera · Rhopaloeides odorabile · Great Barrier Reef · Cyanobacteria Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 423: [95][96][97][98][99][100] 2011 shore reefs are predominantly phototrophic or mixotrophic (Wilkinson & Trott 1985, Wilkinson 1987, Wilkinson & Cheshire 1989. It has been suggested that the prevalence of heterotrophic sponges on coastal reef habitats is due to increased suspended sediments, higher nutrient levels and reduced light availability associated with land-based runoff (Wilkinson & Cheshire 1989, Cleary & de Voogd 2007. In contrast, clear water leads to a dominance of phototrophic sponges on offshore reefs where the higher light intensities provide the carbon required for growth and survival (Wilkinson & Trott 1985, Cleary & de Voogd 2007.Rhopaloeides odorabile is a common reef-associated sponge that colonises both inshore and offshore reefs (Wilkinson & Cheshire 1989, Bannister et al. 2010 and displays distinct morphs between locations (Thompson et al. 1987). On coastal reefs, R. odorabile are slender and show partial surface depigmentation, whereas on offshore reefs R. odorabile are large and have dark reddish-brown surface pigmentation, characteristic of sponges harbouring symbiotic cyanobacteria (Giano et al. 1977, Wilkinson 1980. Furthermore, the culturable microbial community of R. odorabile has been isolated and includes a unique cyanobacterium within the order Oscillatoriales (Webster & Hill 2001), as well as other microbial symbionts (Webster et al. 2001a,b). The cyanobacterium isolated from R. odorabile could not be enumerated, was never detected during extensive transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis and its role within R. odorabile remains unclear (Webster & Hill 2001). The differential depth distribution of R...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Incongruence between the distribution of a common coral reef sponge and photosynthesis

Bannister¹,

Hoogenboom²,

Anthony³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Members of this group play important ecological roles (Wulff 2001) within aquatic environments, and several species are also commercially important (Sipkema et al 2005, Louden et al 2007. Despite their ecological and commercial importance, key information central to management and conservation, including how populations are maintained and connected genetically, remains largely unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low genetic variability within and among populations of the brooding sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile on the central Great Barrier Reef

Whalan¹,

Nys²,

Smith-Keune³

et al. 2008

Aquat. Biol.

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The population genetic structure of the brooding sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile (Dictyoceratida) was examined at 3 polymorphic allozyme loci and the partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase sub-unit 1 gene (CO1) sequence (528 bp) from multiple sites across the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Distances between sampled sites ranged from a few 100 metres to 140 km. Observed levels of allozyme variation were generally low, and there were only minor differences in allozyme allele frequencies evident between sites. Likewise, levels of polymorphism for mtDNA CO1 were also low, with only 3 haplotypes found at this locus and with 1 of the 3 haplotypes present at all sites with frequencies ranging from 0.55 to 1.00. There was no obvious partitioning or structuring of the observed allozyme or CO1 genetic variance with spatial positioning of populations and no evidence in this sponge species for genetic differentiation between inner-and mid-reef sites. However, there was evidence against complete genetic panmixia across the central GBR, with 2 pairs of innerreef sites sampled in 2004 genetically differentiated from most other pairwise site comparisons, and both pairs were also different from single sites within a few 100 metres sampled in the previous year. When viewed together, nuclear and mtDNA markers indicate large-scale genetic admixture in this species, although there is some evidence for small, localised, genetic differences between some populations that might be determined by reef-specific hydrodynamics. This pattern is consistent with the endogenous recruitment expected from a brooding species and with dispersal that is infrequent enough to prevent divergence among populations. KEY WORDS: Brooding sponge · Larval dispersal · Genetic variability · ConnectivityResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher OPEN PEN ACCESS CCESS

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“…Novel bioactive compounds are routinely discovered and identified, but the low concentrations in which they often exist means that sourcing them from wild stocks of sponges would require unsustainable levels of harvesting (Sipkema et al, 2005). The production of these compounds in commercially viable quantities is currently hampered by these low concentrations, coupled with variable growth rates in both natural and controlled systems (Bergman et al, 2011;Duckworth, 2009;Louden et al, 2007;Osinga et al, 1999), making it very difficult to achieve successful and efficient production of sponge biomass.…”

Section: Sponges Are Key Nutrient Cyclers and Producers Of Secondary mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling sponge-symbiont metabolism

Watson¹

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Marine sponges are increasingly being recognised for their nutrient cycling ecosystem services, linking pelagic nutrients with the benthic ecosystem. Furthermore, sponges are the most prolific producers of bioactive secondary metabolites in the marine environment. Despite their ecological and commercial value, little is know about the metabolic processes that are responsible. The inability to produce sufficient sponge biomass, and thus specific bioactive compounds, has been repeatedly identified as a major bottleneck towards commercialising sponge holobiont derived drugs. Likewise, nutrient cycling by sponges has been a relatively recent advancement in marine ecology and the scale of this process is unknown. This thesis takes a systems approach to understanding sponge-symbiont metabolic processes by utilising the genomic resources available for the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica and its bacterial symbiont AqS1. Specifically, I undertake genome-scale modelling and metabolic flux analyses to investigate the metabolic networks present in this sponge as well as its associated vertically-transmitted microbial symbiont. The goal of this thesis is to generate the data required for, and subsequently develop, a dual-species genome-scale metabolic model for A. queenslandica and AqS1. This will provide a framework to further our understanding of how sponges produce their biomass while living in an oligotrophic, tropical reef environment.To develop a genome-scale metabolic model, the biochemical composition of the organism must first be determined. Knowledge of the relative quantities of macromolecules and their respective building blocks (e.g. protein and amino acids) is vital, as each requires different substrates, enzymes and cofactors for their synthesis. I adapted and developed methods to characterise the composition and abundance of DNA, RNA, protein, lipids and carbohydrates in a marine sponge. These methods are described in detail that allows them to be easily transferred to other, non-model, large marine organisms. This is followed by a detailed analysis of A. queenslandica's macromolecular, amino acid, fatty acid and sterol composition. The biochemical data from this chapter was used to generate a biomass equation that represent the average composition of adult A. queenslandica in the metabolic model. 3To understand how the metabolic network may work towards producing more biomass, it must be considered in the context of the environmental conditions that naturally constrain growth. The dominant environmental constraint on growth on an oligotrophic reef system is nutrient availability.The abundance of key elements, such as carbon and nitrogen, were quantified throughout the course of a year. To investigate effects on the sponge of any changes in nutrient availability, I concurrently sampled sponges and analysed their biochemical composition to the macromolecular level. Chapter 4 presents these data and discusses a number of trends and correlations in the biochemical composition of the sponges with chan...

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An assessment of the aquaculture potential of the tropical sponges Rhopaloeides odorabile and Coscinoderma sp.

Cited by 28 publications

References 28 publications

Incongruence between the distribution of a common coral reef sponge and photosynthesis

Incongruence between the distribution of a common coral reef sponge and photosynthesis

Low genetic variability within and among populations of the brooding sponge Rhopaloeides odorabile on the central Great Barrier Reef

Modelling sponge-symbiont metabolism

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