Symbiotic Versus Non-symbiotic Octocorals: Physiological and Ecological Implications

Schubert, Nadine; Brown, Darren; Rossi, Sergio

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-17001-5_54-1

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…These organisms exhibit composite responses to climatic conditions. Practically ubiquitous in all aquatic habitats, they are characterized by high regenerative capacity and considerable ability to form symbioses with microorganisms (Bosch et al 2014;Sun et al 2016;Schubert et al 2017). They are morphologically simple but with complex gene repertoires able to code much of the sensory capacity of more complex animals (Technau et al 2005;Chapman et al 2010;Srivastava et al 2010;Bosch et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of global warming on reproduction and potential dispersal of Mediterranean Cnidarians

Rossi

Gravili

Milisenda

et al. 2019

The European Zoological Journal

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Water temperature directly affects life cycles, reproductive periods, and metabolism of organisms living the oceans, especially in the surface zones. Due to the ocean warming, changes in water stratification and primary productivity are affecting trophic chains in sensitive world areas, such as the Mediterranean Sea. Benthic and pelagic cnidarians exhibit complex responses to climatic conditions. For example, the structure and phenology of the Mediterranean hydrozoan community displayed marked changes in species composition, bathymetric distribution, and reproductive timing over the last decades. The regional species pool remained stable in terms of species numbers but not in terms of species identity. When the Scyphozoa group is considered, we observe that Pelagia noctiluca (among the most abundant jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic waters) has increasingly frequent massive outbreaks associated to warmer winters. Variations in metabolic activities, such as respiration and excretion, are strongly temperature-dependent, with direct increment of energetic costs with jellyfish size and temperature, leading to growth rate reduction. Water temperature affects sexual reproduction through changes in the energy storage and gonad development cycles. Anthozoan life cycles depend also on primary productivity and temperature: gonadal production and spawning are tightly related in shallow populations (0-30 m depth) with the spring-summer temperature trends and autumn food availability. Overall, the energy transferred from the mother colonies to the offspring may decrease, negatively affecting their potential to settle, metamorphose and feed during the first months of their lives, eventually impairing the dominance of long-living cnidarian suspension feeders in shallow benthic habitats. In this review, we describe the already ongoing effects of sea warming on several features of cnidarian reproduction, trying to elucidate how reproductive traits and potential dispersion will be affected by the cascade effects of increasing temperature in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of global warming on reproduction and potential dispersal of Mediterranean Cnidarians

Rossi

Gravili

Milisenda

et al. 2019

The European Zoological Journal

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“…Octocorals are important members of shallow and mesophotic coral reef communities (Schubert et al 2016; Benayahu et al 2019) and create complex three‐dimensional habitats for other reef species (i.e., marine forests— see Rossi et al 2017). Although some symbiotic octocoral species have been reported as mixotrophic in shallow waters (Fabricius and Klumpp 1995), two recent studies performed on gorgonian octocorals have concluded that the extent of autotrophy and heterotrophy depends on host morphology (e.g., colony shape and polyp size) and symbiont specificity (Baker et al 2015; Rossi et al 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

Lipid biomarkers reveal the trophic plasticity of octocorals along a depth gradient

Pupier

Mies

Fine

et al. 2021

Limnology & Oceanography

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Symbiotic octocorals are important reef inhabitants, from shallow to mesophotic depths. However, information regarding their nutritional ecology along the depth gradient, and in particular the changes in the autotrophic and heterotrophic acquisition of nutrients, is limited, despite the fact that nutrient acquisition is a fundamental process in explaining the distribution of reef organisms. Here, the abundance of three lipid biomarkers, specific for autotrophy and heterotrophy, was investigated in the tissue of four octocoral species and one scleractinian sampled in shallow and upper mesophotic reefs of the oligotrophic Northern Red Sea. Our findings show functional mixotrophy for all dinoflagellate‐bearing species, with a significant input of heterotrophic feeding on herbivorous crustacean zooplankton at both depths. The relatively high level of the heterotrophic marker in all symbiotic species in shallow conditions does not corroborate the common idea that corals rely mostly on autotrophy in shallow waters. The increase in heterotrophic capacity with depth was however species‐specific, likely related to physiological and morphological characteristics. In addition, octocorals maintained similar concentrations of autotrophic markers with increasing depth, while the scleractinian species exhibited a decrease in these markers with depth. These results are in agreement with previous measurements of photosynthetically‐fixed carbon acquisition, suggesting that autotrophy remains stable in Red sea soft corals, whereas it decreases in scleractinian corals. This study highlights the importance of heterotrophy across the euphotic‐upper mesophotic depth gradient and brings relevant advances on our understanding of the ecological significance of feeding for reef corals.

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“…With a longer dark incubation, as occurring at night within a circadian cycle, the light harvesting capacity can be reduced due to periodical oscillations of light-harvesting protein synthesis on the thylakoid membranes [80]. Photosynthesis to respiration ratio (P/R) can be used as proxy for autotrophic contribution [81]. Our findings (PAR = 500, P/R = 1.4; PAR = 200, P/R = 1.9) are in accordance with the values observed in C. andromeda (P/R = 1.4) [82] and in other zooxanthellate jellyfish such as Linuche and Mastigias (P/R of 1.7 and 1.1-1.8 respectively) [31,32].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

High photosynthetic plasticity may reinforce invasiveness of upside-down zooxanthellate jellyfish in Mediterranean coastal waters

Mammone

Ferrier‐Pagés

Lavorano³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Ecological profiling of non-native species is essential to predict their dispersal and invasiveness potential across different areas of the world. Cassiopea is a monophyletic taxonomic group of scyphozoan mixotrophic jellyfish including C. andromeda, a recent colonizer of sheltered, shallow-water habitats of the Mediterranean Sea, such as harbors and other light-limited, eutrophic coastal habitats. To assess the ecophysiological plasticity of Cassiopea jellyfish and their potential to spread across the Mare Nostrum by secondary introductions, we investigated rapid photosynthetic responses of jellyfish to irradiance transitions—from reduced to increased irradiance conditions (as paradigm of transition from harbors to coastal, meso/oligotrophic habitats). Laboratory incubation experiments were carried out to compare oxygen fluxes and photobiological variables in Cassiopea sp. immature specimens pre-acclimated to low irradiance (PAR = 200 μmol photons m−2 s−1) and specimens rapidly exposed to higher irradiance levels (PAR = 500 μmol photons m−2 s−1). Comparable photosynthetic potential and high photosynthetic rates were measured at both irradiance values, as also shown by the rapid light curves. No significant differences were observed in terms of symbiont abundance between control and treated specimens. However, jellyfish kept at the low irradiance showed a higher content in chlorophyll a and c (0.76±0.51SD vs 0.46±0.13SD mg g-1 AFDW) and a higher Ci (amount of chlorophyll per cell) compared to jellyfish exposed to higher irradiance levels. The ratio between gross photosynthesis and respiration (P:R) was >1, indicating a significant input from the autotrophic metabolism. Cassiopea sp. specimens showed high photosynthetic performances, at both low and high irradiance, demonstrating high potential to adapt to sudden changes in light exposure. Such photosynthetic plasticity, combined with Cassiopea eurythermal tolerance and mixotrophic behavior, jointly suggest the upside-down jellyfish as a potentially successful invader in the scenario of a warming Mediterranean Sea.

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Symbiotic Versus Non-symbiotic Octocorals: Physiological and Ecological Implications

Cited by 15 publications

References 85 publications

Effects of global warming on reproduction and potential dispersal of Mediterranean Cnidarians

Effects of global warming on reproduction and potential dispersal of Mediterranean Cnidarians

Lipid biomarkers reveal the trophic plasticity of octocorals along a depth gradient

High photosynthetic plasticity may reinforce invasiveness of upside-down zooxanthellate jellyfish in Mediterranean coastal waters

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