Abstract
The problem of locating mates and identifying them as conspecifics is similar for Copepoda, Cladocera, and Rotifera since they are all relatively small animals moving in a large volume of water. Chemoreception is a potentially effective means of identifying mates in aquatic environments. In zooplankton, mate recognition systems based on chemoreception have evolved which can distinguish conspecifics from other species and can discriminate males from females. The evidence for the role of chemical signals in copepod mating is indirect, based on observations of mating behavior. The small size and limited metabolic capability of zooplankton, and high diffusion rates at 1–10 mm spatial scales, restrict the volume through which chemical signals can be effectively transmitted. An alternative to using diffusible molecules for sexual communication is to bind signal molecules to cell surfaces, allowing energetically costly molecules like proteins to serve as signals without their loss through diffusion. Contact chemore eption has been described in copepod and rotifer mating and perhaps represents a general solution to the problem of chemical communication by small zooplankters. The types of signals used, their mechanisms of transmiss on and reception, and their role in maintaining reproductive isolation among species has yet to be characterized for any aquatic invertebrate. In this review, I compare the methods used by copepods and rotifers for mate seeking and recognition, describe the behavioral evidence supporting the existence of chemical cues, and examine experiments describing the biochemical characteristics of the signal molecules.In copepods, male mate seeking behavior occurs without previous female contact, suggesting the reception of a diffusible signal. The signal molecule is small and lacks species specificity in the species investigated. Male rotifers do not respond to females from a distance. Mates are located by random male swimming and contact chemoreception of a species-specific signal. Mate recognition in both copepods and rotifers is based on contact chemoreception of a species-specific signal. The pheromones responsible are not known for copepods, but surface glycoproteins with pheromonal activity have been identified in rotifers. The structure of the rotifer sex pheromone has been probed by selective enzymatic degradation and lectin binding, electrophoretic characterization, and attachment to agarose beads to assess its biological activity. Glycoproteins play a key role in the sexual communication of some algal and ciliate species and have well characterized roles in cellular recognition phenomena like sperm-egg binding. The significance of these studies lies in their contribution to our understanding of zooplankton reproductive biology, the chemical ecology of male-female communication, the molecular basis of chemoreception in the aquatic environment, and the evolution of pre-mating reproductive isolating mechanisms in zooplankton.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aloia, R. C. & R. L. Moretti, 1973. Mating behavior and the ultrastructure of copulation in the rotifer Asplanchna brightwelli Trans. am. Microsc. Soc. 90: 371–380.
Atema, J., R. R. Fay, A. N. Popper & W. N. Tavolga, 1988. Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals. New York, SpringerVerlag.936 pp.
Atema, J. & R. B. Gagosian, 1973. Behavioral responses of male lobsters to ecdysones. Mar. Behav. Physiol. 2: 15–20.
Blades, P. I., 1977. Mating behavior of Centropages typicus. Mar. Biol. 40: 47–64.
Blades, P. I. & M. J. Youngbluth, 1979. Mating behavior of Labidocera aestiva (Copepoda: Calanoida). Mar. Biol. 51: 339–355.
Blades, P. I. & M. J. Youngbluth, 1980. Morphological, physiological and behavioral aspects of mating in calanoid copepods.In: Evolution and Ecology of Zooplankton Communities W. C. Kerfoot (ed.), Hanover, New Hampshire, University Press of New England, pp. 39–51.
Bossert, W. H. & E. O. Wilson, 1963. The analysis of olfactory communication among animals. J. theor. Biol. 5: 443– 469.
Carde, R. T. &T. C. Baker, 1984. Sexual communication with pheromones. In: Chemical Ecology of Insects, W. J. &. R. T. C. Bell (eds), Sunderland, MA, Sinauer Associates, pp. 355–383.
Carr, W. E. S., 1988. The molecular nature of chemical stimuli in the aquatic environment. In: Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals, J. Atema R. R. Fay, A. N. Popper & W. N. Tavolga (eds), New York, Springer-Verlag, pp. 3– 27.
Chow-Fraser, P. & E. J. Maly, 1988. Aspects of mating, reproduction,and co-occurrence in three freshwater calanoid copepods. Freshwater Biol. 19: 95–108.
Colombo, L., P. C. Belvedere, A. Marconato & F. Bentivegna,1982, Pheromones in teleost fish. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Reproductive Physiology of Fish, C. J. J. Richter & H. J. T. Goos (eds), Wageningen,Netherlands, Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation.
Dunham, P. J., 1978. Sex pheromones in Crustacea. Biol. Rev. 53: 555–583.
Fleminger, A., 1967. Taxononmy, distribution, and polymorphism in the Labidocera jollae group with remarks on evolution within the group (Copepoda: Calanoida). Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 120: 1–61.
Gilbert, J. J., 1963. Contact chemoreception, mating behaviour,and sexual isolation in the rotifer genus Brachionus. J. exp. Biol. 40: 625–641.
Gilbert, J. J., 1983. Rotifera. In: Reproductive Biology of Invertebrates,R. G. Adiyodi & K. G. Adiyodi (eds), New York, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 181–209.
Glabe, C. G., L. B. Grabel, V. D. Vacquier & S. D. Rosen, 1982. Carbohydrate specificity of sea urchin sperm binding: A cell surface lectin mediating sperm-egg adhesion. J. Cell. Biol. 94: 123–129.
Gleeson, R. A., 1980. Pheromone communication in the reproductive behavior of the crab, Callinectes sapidus. Mar. Behav. Physiol. 7: 119–134.
Gleeson, R. A., M. A. Adams & A. B. I. Smith, 1984. Characterization of a sex pheromone in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus: crustecdysone studies. J. Chem. Ecol. 10: 913–921.
Goldstein, I. J., R. C. Hughes, M. Monsigny, T. Osawa & N. Sharon, 1980. What are lectins? Nature 285: 66.
Griffiths, A. M. & B. W. Frost, 1976. Chemical communication in the marine planktonic copepods Calanus pacificus and Pseudocalanus sp. Crustaceana. 30: 1–8.
Jacobs, J., 1961. Laboratory cultivation of the marine copepod Pseudodiaptomus coronatus Williams. Limnol. Oceanogr.6: 443–446.
Jacoby, C. A. & M. J. Youngbluth, 1983. Mating behavior in three species of Pseudodiaptomus (Copepoda: Calanoida). Mar. Biol. 76: 77–86.
Katona, S. A., 1973. Evidence for sex pheromones in planktonic copepods. Limnol. Ocean. 81: 574–583.
Katona, S. K., 1975. Copulation in the copepod Eurytemora affinis (Poppe, 1880). Crustaceana. 28: 89–95.
Kittredge, J. S., M. Terry & F. T. Takahash, 1971. Sex pheromone activity of the molting hormone, crustecdysone, on male crabs. Fish. Bull. 69: 337–343.
Kittredge, J. S., F. T. Takahashi, J. Lindsey & R. Lasker, 1974. Chemical signals in the sea: Marine allelochemics and evolution. Fish. Bull. 72: 1–11.
Kubota, T., T. Tokoroyama, Y. Tsukuda, H. Koiama & A. Miyake, 1973. Isolation and structure determination of blepharismin, a conjugation initiating gamone in the ciliate Blepharisma. Science. 179: 400–402.
Lazzaretto, I., B. Salvato & A. Libertini, 1990. Evidence of chemical signalling in Trigriopus fulvus (Copepoda, Harpacticoida).Crustaceana. 59: 171–179.
Luporini, P. & C. Miceli, 1986. Mating Pheromones. In: The Molecular Biology of Ciliated Protozoa, J. G. Gall (ed.), New York, Academic Press, pp. 263–299.
Mackie, A. M. & P. T. Grant, 1974. Interspecies and intraspecies chemoreception by marine invertebrates. In: Chemoreception in Marine Organisms, P. T. &. A. M. M. Grant (eds), New York, Academic Press, pp. 105–141.
Miyake, A. & J. Beyer, 1974. Blepharmone: A conjugationinducing glycoprotein in the ciliate Blepharisma. Science. 185: 621–623.
Parker, G. H., 1902. The reactions of copepods to various stimuli and the bearing of this on daily depth migrations. Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm. 21: 103–123.
Sharon, N. & H. Lis, 1989. Lectins as cell recognition molecules.Science. 246: 227–234.
Snell, T. W. & C. A. Hawkinson, 1983. Behavioral reproductive isolation among populations of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. Evolution. 37: 1294–1305.
Snell, T. W. & B. L. Garman, 1986. Encounter probabilities between male and female rotifers. J exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 97: 221–230.
Snell, T. W., M. J. Childress & B. C. Winkler, 1988. Characteristics of the mate recognition factor in the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 89A: 481–485.
Snell, T. W., 1989. Systematics, reproductive isolation and species boundaries in monogonont rotifers. In C. Ricci, T. W. Snell & C. E. King (eds), Rotifer Symposium V. Developments in Hydrobiology 52. Kluwer Academic Publishers,Dordrecht: 299–310. Reprinted from Hydrobiologia 186/187.
Snell, T. W. & M. A. Nacionales, 1990. Sex pheromone communication in Brachionus plicatilis (Rotifera). Comp. Biochem.Physiol. 97A: 211–216.
Stadler, E., 1984. Contact chemoreception. In: Chemical Ecology of Insects, W. J. &. R. T. C. Bell (eds.), Sunderland,MA, Sinauer Associates, pp. 3–35.
Uchima, M. & M. Murano, 1988. Mating behavior of the marine copepod Oithona davisae. Mar. Biol. 99: 39–45.
Wassarman, P. W., 1987. The biology and chemistry of fertilization.Science 235: 553–560.
Watras, C. J., 1983. Mate location by diaptomid copepods. J. Plankton Res. 5: 417–425.
Wiese, L., 1965. On sexual agglutination and mating type substances (gamones) in isogamous heterophallic Chlamydamondes.I. Evidence of the identity of the gamone with the surface components responsible for sexual flagellar content.J. Phycol. 1: 46–54.
Wilcox, M., 1986. Cell surface antigens. In: Drosophila: SL practical approach, D. B. Roberts (ed.), Washington, DC, IRL Press, pp. 243–274.
Wilson, E. O., 1968. Chemical systems. In: Animal Communication,T. A. Sebeok (ed.), Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, pp. 75–102.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Snell, T.W., Morris, P.D. (1993). Sexual communication in copepods and rotifers. In: Gilbert, J.J., Lubzens, E., Miracle, M.R. (eds) Rotifer Symposium VI. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 83. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1606-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1606-0_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4700-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-1606-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive