Anti-predatory effects of organic extracts of 10 common reef sponges from Zanzibar

Helber, Stephanie B.; Voogd, Nicole J. de; Muhando, Christopher A.; Rohde, Sven; Schupp, Peter J.

doi:10.1007/s10750-016-3036-8

Cited by 9 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 84 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For the FA, 17 individuals were kept separately in 100 L tanks and fed routinely to avoid any preference patterns [ 92 ]. The feeding assays were conducted as described in Rohde et al 2012 [ 91 ] and Helber et al, 2017 [ 93 ] (adapted from Pawlik 1995). In short, the artificial diet consisted of the natural volumetric concentration of dried crude extract of 1.5 mL sea cucumber tissue, 50 mg alginic acid and 75 mg freeze-dried squid mantel topped with distilled water to reach a final volume of 1.5 mL [ 94 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sea cucumbers are slow-moving organisms that use morphological, but also a diversecombination of chemical defenses to improve their overall fitness and chances of survival. Sincechemical defense compounds are also of great pharmaceutical interest, we pinpoint the importanceof biological screenings that are a relatively fast, informative and inexpensive way to identify themost bioactive organisms prior to further costly and elaborate pharmacological screenings. In thisstudy, we investigated the presence and absence of chemical defenses of 14 different sea cucumberspecies from three families (Holothuriidae, Stichopodidae and Synaptidae) against ecologicalfactors such as predation and pathogenic attacks. We used the different sea cucumber crudeextracts as well as purified fractions and pure saponin compounds in a portfolio of ecologicalactivity tests including fish feeding assays, cytotoxicity tests and antimicrobial assays againstenvironmental pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. Furthermore, we quantified andcorrelated the concentrations of sea cucumber characteristic saponin compounds as effectivechemical defensive compounds in all 14 crude extracts by using the vanillin–sulfuric acid test. Theinitial results revealed that among all tested sea cucumber species that were defended against atleast one ecological threat (predation and/or bacterial attack), Bohadschia argus, Stichopuscholoronotus and Holothuria fuscopunctata were the three most promising bioactive sea cucumberspecies. Therefore, following further fractionation and purification attempts, we also testedsaponin-containing butanol fractions of the latter, as well as two purified saponin species from B.argus. We could demonstrate that both, the amount of saponin compounds and their structurelikely play a significant role in the chemical defense strategy of the sea cucumbers. Our studyconcludes that the chemical and morphological defense mechanisms (and combinations thereof)differ among the ecological strategies of the investigated holothurian species in order to increasetheir general fitness and level of survival. Finally, our observations and experiments on thechemical ecology of marine organisms can not only lead to a better understanding of their ecologyand environmental roles but also can help in the better selection of bioactiveorganisms/compounds for the discovery of novel, pharmacologically active secondary metabolitesin the near future.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As a result, survival and reproduction between the competing organisms can strongly depend on their ability to produce bioactive SMs (de Carvalho and Fernandes 2010). These bioactive substances can perform various tasks for their producers and associated organisms; for instance, SMs work as a chemical defense against predators (Pohnert 2004;Kubicek et al 2011;Rasher et al 2013;Rohde et al 2015;Helber et al 2017), function as attractants toward consumers (Sakata 1989), have antimicrobial effects against pathogenic microbes (Goecke et al 2010;Puglisi et al 2014;Helber et al 2018), guide the opposing sex by letting individuals find and evaluate potential mating partners through chemical cues (Lonsdale et al 1998;Li et al 2002), or act as settlement cues for invertebrate larvae to initiate the transformation into a sessile, juvenile form (Morse et al 1988;Heyward and Negri 1999;Negri et al 2001;Kitamura et al 2009;Tebben et al 2011Tebben et al , 2015Sneed et al 2014). For example, different classes of macroalgae defend themselves chemically against herbivores and produce SMs with antimicrobial and antifouling activity (Schupp and Paul 1994;Paul et al 2014;Schwartz et al 2016).…”

Section: Marine Chemical Ecology: Predator-prey Interactions and Compmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the ecological role of sponge crude extracts has been evaluated for numerous sponge species, assignment of activities to specific NPs is lacking behind. Investigated bioactivities included antipredatory, antifouling, antimicrobial, and allelopathic functions (Rohde et al 2015;Helber et al 2017Helber et al , 2018. Several studies are providing evidence that sponges are chemically defended from predation and pathogens by compounds that either the host or other associated microorganisms had produced (Pawlik 2011;Hentschel et al 2012).…”

Section: Marine Chemical Ecology: Predator-prey Interactions and Compmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another activity that has received increased attention recently are allelopathic actions of sponges by which they can outcompete scleractinian corals. Sponges have become an increasingly dominant species in the Caribbean reefs (Maliao et al 2008;Colvard and Edmunds 2011;Perry et al 2013;Villamizar et al 2013;Loh and Pawlik 2014) and to a lesser extend in the Indo-Pacific (Bell and Smith 2004;Bell et al 2013;Helber et al 2017) as coral reef systems are permanently threatened by multiple decades of loss of reefbuilding corals due to climate change, disease, and pollution. In contrast to the calcium carbonate skeleton of corals, sponge skeletons are made of silica or protein, making them less sensitive to ocean acidification and temperature shifts (Pawlik 2011;Bell et al 2013).…”

Section: Marine Chemical Ecology: Predator-prey Interactions and Compmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, several natural products (NPs) have the ability to protect against nonbiological impacts, such as high light intensities or elevated temperatures, and to obtain reproduction advantages for their producers (Ludwig-Müller and Gutzeit 2014). In the marine environment, SMs fulfill manifold tasks for their producers as they, for instance, act as a chemical defense against predators (Rohde et al 2015;Helber et al 2017;Rohde and Schupp 2018) or have antimicrobial effects against pathogenic microbes (Goecke et al 2010;Rohde et al 2015;Helber et al 2018). Furthermore, MNPs are important for inducing larval settlement of benthic invertebrates (Yvin et al 1985;Morse et al 1988;Tebben et al 2011Tebben et al , 2015Harder et al 2018), thereby maintaining and controlling community functioning and population dynamics.…”

Section: Introduction: Definition Of Secondary Metabolismmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Secondary Metabolites of Marine Microbes: From Natural Products Chemistry to Chemical Ecology

Petersen

Kellermann

Schupp

2019

YOUMARES 9 - The Oceans: Our Research, Our Future

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine natural products (MNPs) exhibit a wide range of pharmaceutically relevant bioactivities, including antibiotic, antiviral, anticancer, or anti-inflammatory properties. Besides marine macroorganisms such as sponges, algae, or corals, specifically marine bacteria and fungi have shown to produce novel secondary metabolites (SMs) with unique and diverse chemical structures that may hold the key for the development of novel drugs or drug leads. Apart from highlighting their potential benefit to humankind, this review is focusing on the manifold functions of SMs in the marine ecosystem. For example, potent MNPs have the ability to exile predators and competing organisms, act as attractants for mating purposes, or serve as dye for the expulsion or attraction of other organisms. A large compilation of literature on the role of MNPs in marine ecology is available, and several reviews evaluated the function of MNPs for the aforementioned topics. Therefore, we focused the second part of this review on the importance of bioactive compounds from crustose coralline algae (CCA) and their role during coral settlement, a topic that has received less attention. It has been shown that certain SMs derived from CCA and their associated bacteria are able to induce attachment and/or metamorphosis of many benthic invertebrate larvae, including globally threatened reef-building scleractinian corals. This review provides an overview on bioactivities of MNPs from marine microbes and their potential use in medicine as well as on the latest findings of the chemical ecology and settlement process of scleractinian corals and other invertebrate larvae.

show abstract

Targeted predator defenses of sponges shape community organization and tropical marine ecosystem function

Wulff

2021

Ecological Monographs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Defenses that target particular consumers often influence community organization, ecosystem function, and diversity maintenance. In coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystems, sponges affect substratum stability, water clarity, diversity of associated species, and survival of habitat-providing organisms, key roles not duplicated by other organisms. Whether and how predators control sponges are much disputed. Substantial ecosystem consequences of losing or gaining sponges motivated definitive experiments on how predators control sponge distribution and abundance. Caribbean sponges of 94 species representing 13 taxonomic orders and three linked habitats (coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass meadows) were exposed to seven predator species representing different habitats and degrees of spongivory in 4,493 in situ trials. The resulting data force reassessment of popular interpretations of several patterns and processes. Contrary to extract pellet assays that declare most sponges deterrent, 78% of these 94 species were eaten by at least one predator. But "palatability" is consumer dependent: a sponge species eaten by one predator can be rejected by other predators, and predator species differed in what sponges they ate in 55.4% (214/392) of pairwise comparisons between predators. Because spongivore species are usually restricted to particular habitats, they impose abrupt boundaries on sponges' habitat distributions, reflecting inverse relationships between accessibility and palatability to each predator. Thus a seagrass-dwelling starfish eats only 9% of seagrass sponge species, but 70% of coral reef species, and 78% of mangrove species. Reef-dwelling angelfishes completely consume only 13% of reef species, but 29% of seagrass species, and 63% of mangrove species. Defenses that target specific predators reveal that spongivore influence on community organization cannot be inferred from extract pellet/ omnivore assays that assume defenses target all predators equally. In fact, pellet data wrongly predicted actual consumption of living sponges of that pellet's species in 43% of field experiments with spongivores. In contrast with herbivore-plant interactions, opportunistic spongivory is at least as important as routine spongivory for community organization and ecosystem function. Potential for loss of key functional roles of sponges, if opportunistic predators gain access to sponge species that lack defenses against them, must inform conservation plans for coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystems.

show abstract

Anti-predatory effects of organic extracts of 10 common reef sponges from Zanzibar

Cited by 9 publications

References 84 publications

Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians

Chemical Defense Mechanisms and Ecological Implications of Indo-Pacific Holothurians

Secondary Metabolites of Marine Microbes: From Natural Products Chemistry to Chemical Ecology

Targeted predator defenses of sponges shape community organization and tropical marine ecosystem function

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About