Abstract
Understanding the spatial distribution of intraspecific variation, like defense phenotypes of sessile organisms, is important for identifying drivers of ecosystem structure. Secondary metabolites are produced as chemical defenses and organisms may have varying types and concentrations of different metabolites (i.e., chemogroups). In a small study area, the Antarctic red macroalga Plocamium sp. produced 15 chemogroups. Plocamium sp. plays an integral role in the ecosystem by supporting numerous mesograzers, providing them protection from predation. None of these grazers, other than the amphipod Paradexamine fissicauda, are known to consume their host. However, P. fissicauda feeding rates differ among Plocamium sp. chemogroups and they carry fewer embryos when maintained on a subset of chemogroups. We collected Plocamium sp. along transects between 5 and 29 m depth at sites near Anvers Island (64° 46.5ʹ S, 64° 03.3ʹ W) in 2017 and 2018 to examine previously documented site-specificity in chemogroup distribution. We confirmed that chemogroup assemblages differed significantly among sites. Chemogroups vary among depths within sites, but not laterally among transects. A yearlong reciprocal transplant experiment revealed very few changes in chemogroup expression, suggesting that the environment cannot change the chemogroup produced by a thallus. The few changes which occurred were mainly among chemogroups with the same two major compounds but differing in their relative quantities. Hence, the distribution of chemogroups is likely driven by the selection of beneficial genotypes and gene flow. As chemical defenses can have profound effects on the presence of other species, it is important to determine what drives their spatial distribution.
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Data are available at the United States Antarctic Program Data Center: https://www.usap-dc.org/view/project/p0010016.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the fieldwork assistance of M. O. Amsler, C. J. Brothers, M. D. Shilling, K. Smith, S. Thomas and the employees of Antarctic Support Contract. We thank A. Klein for advice on preparing the map and S. A. Krueger-Hadfield for comments that improved the manuscript. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers who have significantly improved this manuscript.
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This research was made possible with the National Science Foundation awards PLR-1341333 (CDA and JBM) and PLR-1341339 (BJB) from the Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems Program. JBM acknowledges the support of an Endowed University Professorship in Polar and Marine Biology provided by the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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CDA, JBM, and BJB conceptualized the research and acquired the funding. SH, AJS, and CDA designed the experiment and collected the data. The original draft of the manuscript was prepared by SH and CDA. All authors contributed to the improvement and finalization of the manuscript.
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Heiser, S., Shilling, A.J., Amsler, C.D. et al. To change or not to change: drivers of defensive secondary metabolite distribution in the red macroalga Plocamium sp.. Mar Biol 170, 31 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04173-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04173-9