Abstract
Many species of macroalgae survive after becoming dislodged from their primary substratum, but little is known about their capacity to express anti-herbivore defences after detachment. We examined the effect of detachment on the relative palatability of the two kelp species Lessonia nigrescens and Macrocystis integrifolia to mesograzers. Laboratory and field experiments were conducted on the northern-central coast of Chile to investigate whether (i) time after detachment and (ii) grazing on detached and attached algae could trigger internal defence mechanisms in the algae, which may have acted as deterrents to grazing. In order to examine palatability, feeding assays were run after each experiment using fresh algal pieces and artificial food. Time after detachment had a significant influence on palatability of L. nigrescens but not of M. integrifolia. During the first 12 days of detachment, detached L. nigrescens held in grazer-free laboratory tanks were not significantly more palatable than attached conspecifics from the field but thereafter detached individuals became more palatable. Floating individuals of M. integrifolia showed no effect of detachment, indicating that this alga maintains its defence after detachment. An experiment conducted in the field confirmed these results for M. integrifolia. An additional laboratory experiment confirmed that attachment status plays an important role on algal defence reaction for L. nigrescens when exposed to grazers. Detached and previously grazed individuals of this species were less palatable than grazer-free control algae, but grazing had no effect on palatability of attached algae. Our results indicate that kelps have varying capacities for development of anti-grazing responses once they become detached, possibly depending on their capacity to float and survive after detachment.
Key words
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bazzaz FA, Chiariello NR, Coley PD, Pitelka LF (1987) Allocating resources to reproduction and defense. BioScience 37: 58–67.
Benz CB, Eiseman NJ, Gallaher EE (1979) Seasonal occurrence and variation in standing crop of a drift algal community in the Indian River, Florida. Bot. Mar. 22: 413–420.
Brooks RA, Bell SS (2001) Mobile corridors in marine landscapes: Enhancement of faunal exchange at seagrass/sand ecotones. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 264: 67–84.
Cetrulo GL, Hay ME (2000) Activated chemical defenses in tropical versus temperate seaweeds. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 207: 243–253.
Cronin G, Hay ME (1996a) Induction of seaweed chemical defenses by amphipod grazing. Ecology 77: 2287–2301.
Cronin G, Hay ME (1996b) Susceptibility to herbivores depends on recent history of both the plant and animal. Ecology 77: 1531–1543.
Deysher L, Norton TA (1982) Dispersal and colonization in Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 56: 179–195.
Duffy JE, Hay ME (2001) The ecology and evolution of marine consumer-prey interactions. In Bertness MD, Hay ME, Gaines SD (eds), Marine Community Ecology: Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, USA, pp. 131–159.
Geertz-Hansen O, Sand-Jensen K, Hansen DF, Christiansen A (1993) Growth and grazing control of abundance of the marine macroalga, Ulva lactuca L in a eutrophic Danish estuary. Aquatic Bot. 46: 101–109.
Hammerstrom K, Dethier MN, Duggins DO (1998) Rapid phlorotannin induction and relaxation in five Washington kelps. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 165: 293–305.
Hay ME, Paul VJ, Lewis SM, Gustafson K, Tucker J, Trindell R (1988) Can tropical seaweeds reduce herbivory by growing at night? Diel patterns of growth, nitrogen content, herbivory, and chemical versus morphological defenses. Oecologia 75: 233–245.
Hay ME (1991) Fish-seaweed interactions on coral reefs: Effects of herbivorous fishes and adaptations of their prey. In Sale PF (ed.), The ecology of fishes on coral reefs, Academic Press, California, pp. 371–413.
Hay ME (1996) Marine chemical ecology: What’s known and what’s next?. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 200:103–134.
Helmuth BS, Veit RR, Holberton R (1994) Long-distance dispersal of a subantarctic brooding bivalve (Gaimardia trapesina) by kelp rafting. Mar. Biol. 120: 421–426.
Herms DA, Mattson WJ (1992) The dilemma of plants to grow or defend. Q. Rev. Biol. 67: 283–335.
Hirata T, Tanaka J, Iwami T, Ohmi T, Dazai A, Aoki M, Ueda H, Tsuchiya Y, Sato T, Yokohama Y (2001) Ecological studies on the community of drifting seaweeds in the south-eastern coastal waters of Izu Peninsula, central Japan. I. Seasonal changes of plants in species composition, appearance, number of species and size. Phycol. Res. 49: 215–229.
Hobday AJ (2000) Age of drifting Macrocystis pyrifera (L.) C. Agardh rafts in the Southern California Bight. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 253: 97–114.
Hoffmann A, Santelices B (1997) Flora marina de Chile central, Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, 434 pp.
Inglis G (1989) The colonisation and degradation of stranded Macrocystis pyrifera by the macrofauna of a New Zealand sandy beach. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 125: 203–217.
Ingólfsson A (1995) Floating clumps of seaweed around Iceland: natural microcosms and means of dispersal for shore fauna. Mar. Biol. 122: 13–21.
Ingólfsson A (1998) Dynamics of macrofaunal communities of floating seaweed clumps off western Iceland: A study of patches on the surface of the sea. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 231: 119–137.
Ingólfsson A (2000) Colonization of floating seaweed by pelagic and subtidal benthic animals in southwestern Iceland. Hydrobiologia 440: 181–189.
Littler MM, Littler DS (1980) The evolution of thallus form and survival strategies in benthic marine macroalgae: Field and laboratory tests of a functional form model. Am. Nat. 116: 25–44.
Littler MM, Littler DS, Taylor PR (1983) Evolutionary strategies in a tropical barrier reef system: Functional-form groups of marine macroalgae. J. Phycol. 19: 229–237.
Lobban CS, Harrison PJ (1994) Seaweed ecology and physiology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 366 pp.
Lubchenco J, Gaines SD (1981) A unified approach to marine plant-herbivore interactions. I. Populations and communities. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 12: 405–437.
Macaya E, Boltaña S, Hinojosa I, Macchiavello J, Valdivia N, Vásquez N, Buschmann A, Vásquez J, Vega J, Thiel M (2005) Presence of sporophylls in floating kelp rafts of Macrocystis spp. (Phaeophyceae) along the Chilean Pacific Coast. J. Phycol. 41: 913–922.
Norton TA, Mathieson AC (1983) The biology of unattached seaweeds. In Round FE, Chapman DJ (eds.), Progress in Phycological Research: Elsevier SP, Amsterdam, pp. 333–376.
North WJ (1994) Reviewof Macrocystis biology. In Akatsuka I (ed.), Biology of Economic Algae. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague, Netherlands, pp. 447–527.
Norkko A, Bonsdorff E (1996) Population responses of coastal zoobenthos to stress induced by drifting algal mats. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 140: 141–151.
Ólafsson E, Ingólfsson A, Steinarsdóttir MB (2001) Harpacticoid copepod communities of floating seaweed: Controlling factors and implications for dispersal. Hydrobiologia 453/454: 189–200.
Parr AE (1939) Quantitative observations on the pelagic Sargassum vegetation of the western North Atlantic. Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Collection 6: 1–94.
Paul VJ, Fenical W (1986) Chemical defense in tropical green algae, order Caulerpales. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 34: 157–169.
Paul VJ, Van Alstyne KL (1992) Activation of chemical defenses in the tropical green algae Halimeda spp. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 160: 191–203.
Pavia H, Cervin G, Lindgren A, Åberg P (1997) Effects of UV-B radiation and simulated herbivory on phlorotannins in the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 157: 139–146.
Pavia H, Toth GB (2000) Inducible chemical resistance to herbivory in the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum. Ecology 81: 3212–3225.
Peckol P, Krane JM, Yates JL (1996) Interactive effects of inducible defense and resource availability on phlorotannins in the North Atlantic brown alga Fucus vesiculosus. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 138: 209–217.
Renaud PE, Hay ME, Schmitt TM (1990) Interactions of plant stress and herbivory: Intraspecific variation in the susceptibility of a palatable versus an unpalatable seaweed to sea urchin grazing. Oecologia 82: 217–226.
Rodríguez SR (2003). Consumption of drift kelp by intertidal populations of the sea urchin Tetrapygus niger on the central Chilean coast: Possible consequences at different ecological levels. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 251: 141–151.
Sotka EE, Taylor RB, Hay ME (2002) Tissue-specific induction of resistance to herbivores in a brown seaweed: The importance of direct grazing versus waterborne signals from grazed neighbors. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 277: 1–12.
Steinberg PD (1984) Algal chemical defense against herbivores: Allocation of phenolic compounds in the kelp Alaria marginata. Science 223: 405–406.
Taylor RB, Sotka E, Hay ME (2002) Tissue-specific induction of herbivore resistance: Seaweed response to amphipod grazing. Oecologia 132: 68–76.
Thiel M (2002) The biogeography of littoral algal-associated peracarids along the Chilean coast. J. Biogeogr. 29: 999–1008.
Thiel M, Vásquez JA (2000) Are kelp holdfasts islands on the ocean floor? Indication for temporarily closed aggregations of peracarid crustaceans. Hydrobiologia 440: 45–54.
Thiel M, Gutow L (2004) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment. I. The floating substrata. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 42: 181–264.
Toth GB, Pavia H (2001) Lack of phlorotannin induction in the kelp Laminaria hyperborea in response to grazing by two gastropod herbivores. Mar. Biol. 140: 403–409.
Van Alstyne KL (1988) Herbivore grazing increases polyphenolic defenses in the intertidal brown alga Fucus distichus. Ecology 69: 655–663.
Van Alstyne KL (1989) Adventitious branching as a herbivore-induced defense in the intertidal brown alga Fucus distichus. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 56: 169–176.
Van Alstyne KL, Wolfe GV, Freidenburg TL, Neill A, Hicken C (2001) Activated defense systems in marine macroalgae: Evidence for an ecological role for DMSP cleavage. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 213: 53–65.
Watson D, Norton TA (1985) The physical characteristics of seaweed thalli as deterrents to littorine grazers. Bot. Mar. 28: 383–387.
Zubia M, Payri CE, Deslandes E, Guezennec J (2003) Chemical composition of attached and drift specimens of Sargassum mangarevense and Turbinaria ornata (Phaeophyta: Fucales) from Tahiti, French Polynesia. Bot. Mar. 46: 562–571.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer
About this paper
Cite this paper
Rothäusler, E., Thiel, M. (2006). Effect of detachment on the palatability of two kelp species. In: Anderson, R., Brodie, J., Onsøyen, E., Critchley, A.T. (eds) Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium. Developments in Applied Phycology, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5670-3_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5670-3_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5669-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5670-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)