We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
INDUCTION AND REDUCTION OF ANTI-HERBIVORE DEFENSES IN BROWN AND RED MACROALGAE OFF THE KENYAN COAST.
- Authors
Ceh, Janja; Molis, Markus; Dzeha, Thomas M.; Wahl, Martin
- Abstract
Herbivory is particularly intense in tropical benthic communities, suggesting preference of constitutive, rather than inducible, anti-herbivory defense. The objective of the study was to examine whether anti-herbivore defenses in the red alga Hypnea pannosa J. Agardh and the brown algae Sargassum asperifolium Hering and G. Martens ex J. Agardh and Cystoseira myrica (S.G. Gmelin) C. Agardh could be induced and subsequently reduced in response to grazing by the amphipod Cymadusa filosa Savigny. During a 14-day treatment phase, algae were exposed to amphipod grazing or were left ungrazed (control). Subsequently, one subset of algae was used in feeding assays, whereas another was cultivated for additional 14 days without consumers (recovery phase). At the end of each phase, bioassays were conducted to detect defensive traits in terms of differences in consumption rates of grazed and control pieces of live algae and agar-based food containing nonpolar algal extracts. Consumption of grazed live S. asperifolium and H. pannosa specimens was lower than of control algae. Furthermore, nonpolar extracts of grazed S. asperifolium and C. myrica were less preferred than those from control algae. Defensive responses were exclusively detected after the treatment phase, although strong preference of ungrazed H. pannosa and C. myrica over grazed conspecifics continued throughout the recovery phase. These findings suggest that phenotypic plasticity in anti-herbivory defense of marine macroalgae 1) might be more common than previously shown, 2) could be switched on and off within 2 weeks, and 3) can be found in nonpolar algal extracts.
- Subjects
RED algae; SARGASSUM; BROWN algae; MYRICA; ALGAE; BIOLOGICAL assay
- Publication
Journal of Phycology, 2005, Vol 41, Issue 4, p726
- ISSN
0022-3646
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1529-8817.2005.00093.x