Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T11:32:20.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Upwelling affects food availability, impacting the morphological and molecular conditions of the herviborous limpet Fissurella crassa (Mollusca: Archeogastropoda)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2012

José Pulgar ,
Marcela Aldana ,
Marco Alvarez ,
Roberto Garcia-Huidobro ,
Pilar Molina ,
Juan Pablo Morales  and
Víctor Manuel Pulgar
José Pulgar*
Affiliation:
Universidad Andres Bello, Departamento de Ecología & Biodiversidad, República 470, Santiago, Chile
Marcela Aldana
Affiliation:
Universidad Central de Chile, Escuela de Pedagogía en Biología y Ciencias, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Santa Isabel 1278, Santiago, Chile
Marco Alvarez
Affiliation:
Universidad Andres Bello, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, República 217, Santiago, Chile
Roberto Garcia-Huidobro
Affiliation:
Universidad Andres Bello, Departamento de Ecología & Biodiversidad, República 470, Santiago, Chile
Pilar Molina
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile
Juan Pablo Morales
Affiliation:
Universidad Andres Bello, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, República 217, Santiago, Chile
Víctor Manuel Pulgar
Affiliation:
Center for Research in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Wake Forest School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Infrastructure Center, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem NC, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J. Pulgar, Departamento de Ecología & Biodiversidad, Universidad Andres Bello, Avenida República 470, Santiago, Chile email: jpulgar@unab.cl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Oceanographical processes, such as upwelling, induce variations in nutrient availability in marine ecosystems, and evidence indicates that nutrient input can strongly influence the physiological activities, structure, and dynamics of marine communities. Intertidal organisms have long been considered ideal study units in which to quantify the relationship of physical variations and differential energy allocations in specimens that undergo environmental variations, such as observed with nutrient availability. In habitats with differential nutrient input (upwelling versus non-upwelling), both food availability (algae abundance) and seasonal gonadal and foot weight variations were determined in the keyhole limpet Fissurella crassa. Gonadal weight is used as a measure of reproduction allocation whereas foot weight is an indirect indicator of energy allocation towards survival. RNA:DNA ratio in limpets was used as an indicator of biosynthetic capability. Our results indicate that, in general, algae abundance, muscular foot weight, and gonadal weight were higher in upwelling sites during all seasons studied. The same result was found for RNA:DNA ratios. Energetic allocation in animals that inhabit intertidal upwelling habitats supported a constant allocation towards reproduction and soft tissues. In contrast, animals that inhabit non-upwelling habitats showed important energetic restrictions associated with higher water temperature and lower food availability. Our results clearly show that in the keyhole limpet F. crassa food availability is a more important determinant of an individual's condition than a physical variation such as environment temperature.

Keywords

RNA:DNA ratiolife historiesfood availabilitykeyhole limpetupwelling
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 797 - 802
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aguilera, M. (2011) The functional roles of the herbivores in the rocky intertidal system in Chile: a review of food preferences and consumptive effects. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 84, 241–261.Google Scholar
Aguilera, A. and Navarrete, S. (2011) Distribution and activity patterns in an intertidal grazer assemblage: influence of temporal and spatial organization on interspecific associations. Marine Ecology Progress Series 431, 119–136.Google Scholar
Bellard, C., Berteslmeier, C., Leadley, W. and Courchamo, F. (2012) Impacts of climate change on the future of biodiversity. Ecology Letters 15, 365–377.Google Scholar
Broitman, B., Navarrete, S. Smith, F. and Gaines, S.D. (2001) Geographic variation in southern Pacific intertidal communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 224, 21–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castilla, J. and Gelcich, S. (2008) Management of the loco (Concholepas concholepas) as a driver for self-governance of small-scale benthic fisheries in Chile. In Townsend, R., Shotton, R. and Uchida, H. (eds) Case studies in fisheries self-governance. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 504, pp. 441–451.Google Scholar
Chomczynski, P. (1993) A reagent for the single-step simultaneous isolation of RNA, DNA and proteins from cell and tissue samples. Bio-Techniques 15, 532–537.Google ScholarPubMed
Chomczynski, P. and Sacchi, N. (1987) Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate–phenol–chloroform extraction. Analytic Biochemistry 162, 156–159.Google Scholar
Dayton, P.K. (1971) Competition, disturbance, and community organization: the provision and subsequent utilization of space in a rocky intertidal community. Ecological Monographs 41, 351–389.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, C., Bult, A., Bijlsma, S., Daan, S., Meijer, T. and Zijlstra, M. (1990) Brood size manipulations in the kestrel (Falco tinnunculus): effects on offspring and parental survival. Journal of Animal Ecology 59, 269–285.Google Scholar
Fisher, R.A. (1930) The genetical theory of natural selection. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 272 pp.Google Scholar
Green, E. (1989) A diet-induced developmental polymorphism in a caterpillar. Science 243, 643–646.Google Scholar
Gelcich, S., Godoy, N., Prado, L. and Castilla, J.C. (2008) Add-on conservation benefits of marine user rights fishery policies in central Chile. Ecological Applications 18, 273–281.Google Scholar
Halpin, P.M., Sorte, C.J., Hofmann, G.E. and Menge, B.A. (2002) Patterns of variation in levels of Hsp70 in natural rocky shore populations from microscales to mesoscales. Integrative and Comparative Biology 42, 815–824.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanssen, S.A., Hasselquist, D., Folstad, I. and Erikstad, K.E. (2005) Cost of reproduction in a long-lived bird: incubation effort reduces immune function and future reproduction. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B—Biological Sciences 272, 1039–1046.Google Scholar
Hernández-Miranda, E., Palma, A.T. and Ojeda, F.P. (2003) Larval fish assemblages in nearshore coastal water off central Chile: temporal and spatial patterns. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 56, 1–48.Google Scholar
Hofmann, G.E and Somero, G.N. (1995) Evidence for protein damage at environmental temperatures: seasonal changes in levels of ubiquitin conjugates and hsp70 in the intertidal mussel Mytilus trssulus . Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 198, 1509–1518.Google Scholar
Lesser, M.P., Bailey, M.A., Merselis, D.G. and Morrison, J.R. (2010) Physiological response of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis to differences in food and temperature in the gulf of Maine. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology—Part A 156, 541–551.Google Scholar
Lubchenco, J. (1978) Plant species diversity in a marine intertidal community: importance of herbivore food preferences and algal competitive abilities. American Naturalist 112, 23–39.Google Scholar
Menge, B.A. (1976) Organization of the New England rocky intertidal community: role of predation, competition, and environmental heterogeneity. Ecological Monograph 46, 355–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menge, B.A and Sutherland, J.P. (1987) Community regulation: variation in disturbance, and predation in relation to environmental stress and recruitment. American Zoologist 130, 730–757.Google Scholar
Menge, B.A., Olson, A.M. and Dahlhoff, E.P. (2002) Environmental stress, bottom-up effects, and community dynamics: integrating molecular–physiological with ecological approaches. Integrative and Comparative Biology 42, 892–908.Google Scholar
Menge, B.A., Bracken, M., Foley, M., Freidenburg, T., Hudson, G., Krenz, C., Leslie, H., Lubchenco, J., Russell, R. and Gaines, S.D. (2003) Coastal oceanography sets the pace of rocky intertidal community dynamics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100, 12229–12234.Google Scholar
Menge, B.A., Blanchet, C., Raimondi, P., Freidenburg, T., Gaines, S., Lubchenco, J., Lohse, D., Hudson, G., Foley, M. and Pamplin, J. (2004) Species interactions strength: testing model predictions along an upwelling gradient. Ecological Monographs 74, 663–684.Google Scholar
Menge, B.A., Daley, B.A., Lubchenco, J., Sanford, E., Dahlhoff, E., Halpin, P.M., Hudson, G. and Burnaford, J.L. (1999) Top-down and bottom-up regulation of New Zealand rocky intertidal communities. Ecological Monographs 69, 297–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monaco, CJ and Helmuth, B. (2011) Tipping points, thresholds and the keystone role of physiology in marine climate change research. Advances in Marine Biology 60, 132–160.Google Scholar
Navarrete, S. and Castilla, J. (2003) Experimental determination of predation intensity in an intertidal predator guild: dominant versus subordinate prey. Oikos 100, 251–262.Google Scholar
Nielsen, K. and Navarrete, S. (2004) Mesoscale regulation comes from the bottom-up: intertidal interactions between consumers and upwelling. Ecology Letters 7, 31–41.Google Scholar
Oliva, D. and Castilla, J.C. (1986) The effects of human exclosure on the population structure of key-hole limpets Fissurella crassa and Fissurella limbata in the coast of Central Chile. Marine Ecology 7, 201–217.Google Scholar
Paine, R.T. (1966) Food web complexity and species diversity. American Naturalist 100, 65–76.Google Scholar
Palumbi, S.R. (2003) Ecological subsidies alter the structure of marine communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100, 11927–11928.Google Scholar
Pulgar, J., Alvarez, M., Morales, J., García-Huidobro, M., Aldana, M., Ojeda, F.P. and Pulgar, V.M. (2011) Impact of oceanic upwelling on morphometric and molecular indices of an intertidal fish Scarthychys viridis (Blenniidae). Marine Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology 44, 33–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pulgar, J., Alvarez, M., Delgadillo, A., Herrera, I., Benitez, S., Morales, J., Molina, P., Aldana, M. and Pulgar, V. (2012) Impact of wave exposure on seasonal morphological and reproductive response on the intertidal limpet Fissurella crassa (Mollusca: Archeogastropoda). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Doi:10.1017/S0025315412000173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricklefs, R.E. and Wikelski, M. (2002) The physiology life-history nexus. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17, 462–468.Google Scholar
Roff, D.A. (2002) Life history evolution. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 465 pp.Google Scholar
Spicer, J. and Gaston, K. (1999) Physiological diversity and its ecological implications. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 240 pp.Google Scholar
Stearns, S.C. (2002) Life history evolution: successes, limitations, and prospects. Naturwissenschaften 87, 476–486.Google Scholar
Thiel, M., Macaya, E.C, Acuña, E., Arntz, W.E., Bastias, H., Camus, P.A., Castilla, J.C., Castro, L.R, Cortes, M., Dumont, C.P., Escribano, R., Fernandez, M., Gajardo, J.A., Gaymer, C.F., Gomez, I., González, A.E., González, H.E., Haye, P.A., Illanes, J.-E., Iriarte, J.L., Lancellotti, D.A., Luna-jorquera, G., Luxoro, C., Manriquez, P.H., Marín, V., Muñoz, P., Navarrette, S.A., Perez, E., Poulin, E., Sellanes, J., Sepúlveda, H., Stotz, W., Tala, F., Thomas, A., Vargas, C.A., Vasquez, J.A. and Alonso Vega, J.M. (2007) The Humboldt Current System of Northern and Central Chile. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 45, 195–344.Google Scholar
Urrejola, S., Nespolo, R. and Lardies, M.A. (2011) Diet-induced developmental plasticity in life histories and energy metabolism in a beetle. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 84, 523–533.Google Scholar
Wiener, J. (1992) Physiological limits to sustain able energy budgets in birds and mammals: ecological implications. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 7, 384–388.Google Scholar
Wieters, E.A. (2005) Upwelling control of positive interactions over mesoscales: a new link between bottom-up and top-down processes on rocky shores. Marine Ecology Progress Series 301, 43–54.Google Scholar
Wieters, E.A., Broitman, B.R. and Branch, G.M. (2009) Benthic community structure and spatiotemporal thermal regimes in two upwelling ecosystems: comparisons between South Africa and Chile. Limnology and Oceanography 54, 1060–1072.Google Scholar
Zar, J.H. (1996) Biostatistical analysis. 3rd edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 662 pp.Google Scholar