Would Antarctic Marine Benthos Survive Alien Species Invasions? What Chemical Ecology May Tell Us

Ávila, Conxita; Buñuel, Xavier; Carmona, Francesc; Cotado, Albert; Sacristán-Soriano, Oriol; Angulo‐Preckler, Carlos

doi:10.3390/md20090543

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 165 publications

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“…Haliclonidae; De Weerdt, 2002) are quite common in the marine environments, even in Antarctica (Barthel and Gutt, 1992). They have been proven to be a prolific source of secondary metabolites (mainly alkaloids) with several bioactivities, including antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, cytotoxic, and hemolytic activities (Avila et al, 2022;Caruso et al, 2022b). In particular, within Chalinidae, Antarctic Haliclona spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical and microbiological insights into two littoral Antarctic demosponge species: Haliclona (Rhizoniera) dancoi (Topsent 1901) and Haliclona (Rhizoniera) scotti (Kirkpatrick 1907)

Papale,

Giannarelli,

Azzaro di Rosamarina

et al. 2024

Front. Microbiol.

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IntroductionAntarctic Porifera have gained increasing interest as hosts of diversified associated microbial communities that could provide interesting insights on the holobiome system and its relation with environmental parameters.MethodsThe Antarctic demosponge species Haliclona dancoi and Haliclona scotti were targeted for the determination of persistent organic pollutant (i. e., polychlorobiphenyls, PCBs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) and trace metal concentrations, along with the characterization of the associated prokaryotic communities by the 16S rRNA next generation sequencing, to evaluate possible relationships between pollutant accumulation (e.g., as a stress factor) and prokaryotic community composition in Antarctic sponges. To the best of our knowledge, this approach has been never applied before.ResultsNotably, both chemical and microbiological data on H. scotti (a quite rare species in the Ross Sea) are here reported for the first time, as well as the determination of PAHs in Antarctic Porifera. Both sponge species generally contained higher amounts of pollutants than the surrounding sediment and seawater, thus demonstrating their accumulation capability. The structure of the associated prokaryotic communities, even if differing at order and genus levels between the two sponge species, was dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota (with Archaea abundances that were negligible) and appeared in sharp contrast to communities inhabiting the bulk environment.DiscussionsResults suggested that some bacterial groups associated with H. dancoi and H. scotti were significantly (positively or negatively) correlated to the occurrence of certain contaminants.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical and microbiological insights into two littoral Antarctic demosponge species: Haliclona (Rhizoniera) dancoi (Topsent 1901) and Haliclona (Rhizoniera) scotti (Kirkpatrick 1907)

Papale,

Giannarelli,

Azzaro di Rosamarina

et al. 2024

Front. Microbiol.

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Palatability of ascidians: a meta-analysis of the predation effect on ascidians

Garcia da Silva,

Leal,

Dias

2024

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Ascidians are marine sessile animals that have evolved many strategies to reduce predation. Previous manipulative experiments with ascidian tissues or pellets have shown that they have chemical defenses that render them unpalatable. However, predation-exclusion experiments on a community scale have shown that ascidians are almost entirely eaten when exposed to predators. Based on these contrasting results, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the importance of study site, experiment design, ascidian sociability, and predator identity to the efficacy of the ascidian defense. Our study is the first quantitative review of predation on ascidians, and it emphasizes the importance of ecological interactions beyond the specific defense tactics of the organisms. We found that multiple factors can interfere with the effectiveness of the ascidian defense. Palatability studies have shown evidence for ascidian defense mechanisms; however, they depend on the identity of the predators (e.g. fish, crab, amphipod). We did not find evidence of ascidian defense in community studies. There is a lack of field experiments, mainly on solitary ascidians, that evaluate their predation risk in communities. Research on ascidian defense mechanisms is also geographically biased toward the temperate region in the Northern Hemisphere. The commonly held belief that ascidians possess active defenses may be overestimated, and the defenses that do exist are probably restricted to only a few species. This misconception has been caused mainly by methodological and geographical bias that has resulted in tests being performed only on species with previous evidence of defenses. Therefore, we need more worldwide studies focusing on the ecological relationships between ascidians and predators, specifically in natural communities under field conditions.

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Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Khan,

Griffiths,

Whittle

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Predator-prey interactions in marine ecosystems control population sizes, maintain species richness, and provide intermediate disturbance. Such ecosystem structuring interactions may be rare in Antarctic epibenthic communities, which are unique among marine ecosystems worldwide for their dominance of soft bodied fauna (sponges, soft and hard corals, and echinoderms) and a simultaneous paucity of shell crushing predators (sharks, rays and durophagous decapods). In the shallow benthos, instead of durophagy, important Antarctic predators such as starfish, pycnogonids (sea spiders), nemertean worms, and nudibranchs employ grazing, scavenging, or sucking strategies. Far less is known about deep sea (>1000 m) Antarctic benthic communities due to the challenging nature of polar data collection, so that photographic surveys provide one of the only means of making in situ observations of these deep sea communities. We used seabed photographs of the deep (~2000m) slope of the Powell Basin, northwest Weddell Sea, taken by the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System on board the RV Polarstern (PS118, April 2019) to investigate the epibenthic community composition, and Bayesian Network Inference (BNI) to determine the ecological network, namely the ecological associations, including potential invertebrate predator-prey relationships between taxa. Photographs show that the rocky substrates of the basin slope support between 10-22 morphotaxa per photo, and highly abundant communities (density between 106 to 553 individuals/m2). BNI results reveal a network of associations between the sessile and mobile suspension and filter feeding organisms and their physical environment. However, associations between invertebrate predators like starfish, and other organisms, were not detected in the network. This lack of inclusion within the network suggests that, despite the presence of these normally important mobile predators, invertebrate predator-prey interactions on the rocky Powell Basin slope do not have the same ecosystem-regulating impact that they do on shallow Antarctic epibenthic communities.

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Would Antarctic Marine Benthos Survive Alien Species Invasions? What Chemical Ecology May Tell Us

Cited by 3 publications

References 165 publications

Chemical and microbiological insights into two littoral Antarctic demosponge species: Haliclona (Rhizoniera) dancoi (Topsent 1901) and Haliclona (Rhizoniera) scotti (Kirkpatrick 1907)

Chemical and microbiological insights into two littoral Antarctic demosponge species: Haliclona (Rhizoniera) dancoi (Topsent 1901) and Haliclona (Rhizoniera) scotti (Kirkpatrick 1907)

Palatability of ascidians: a meta-analysis of the predation effect on ascidians

Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica

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