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Distinct emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds from temperate benthic taxa

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Abstract

Introduction

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are emitted by all organisms as intermediate or end-products of metabolic processes. Individual BVOCs perform important physiological, ecological and climatic functions, and collectively constitute the volatilome—which can be reflective of organism taxonomy and health. Although BVOC emissions of tropical benthic reef taxa have recently been the focus of multiple studies, emissions derived from their temperate counterparts have never been characterised.

Objectives

Characterise the volatilomes of key competitors for benthic space among Australian temperate reefs.

Methods

Six fragments/fronds of a temperate coral (Plesiastrea versipora) and a macroalga (Ecklonia radiata) from a Sydney reef site were placed within modified incubation chambers filled with seawater. Organism-produced BVOCs were captured on thermal desorption tubes using a purge-and-trap methodology, and were then analysed using GC × GC − TOFMS and multivariate tests.

Results

Analysis detected 55 and 63 BVOCs from P. versipora and E. radiata respectively, with 30 of these common between species. Each taxon was characterised by a similar relative composition of chemical classes within their volatilomes. However, 14 and 10 volatiles were distinctly emitted by either E. radiata or P. versipora respectively, including the halogenated compounds iodomethane, tribromomethane, carbon tetrachloride and trichloromonofluoromethane. While macroalgal cover was 3.7 times greater than coral cover at the sampling site, P. versipora produced on average 17 times more BVOCs per cm2 of live tissue, resulting in an estimated contribution to local BVOC emission that was 4.7 times higher than E. radiata.

Conclusion

Shifts in benthic community composition could disproportionately impact local marine chemistry and affect how ecosystems contribute to broader BVOC emissions.

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Data availability

The mass spectra files generated during this study are available in the MassIVE mass spectrometry data repository (MSV000092127; https://doi.org/10.25345/C5KK94P0P).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Gemma Gillette and Paige Strudwick for their assistance in the field. The authors would also like to thank the NSW Department of Primary Industries for permitting the described work. The contribution of DJS and CAL was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project [DP (200100091)] funding to DJS.

Funding

Funding was provided by Australian Research Council DP (200100091).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

AO: Conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, software, visualization, writing—original draft preparation. JBR: Conceptualisation, funding acquisition, resources, software, supervision, validation, visualization, writing—review and editing. CL: Conceptualisation, investigation, methodology, supervision, resources, validation, visualization, writing—review and editing. NB: Investigation, writing—review and editing. MU: Conceptualisation, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, resources, validation, supervision, writing—review and editing. DS: Conceptualisation, funding acquisition, supervision, writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Axel Olander.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Research involving animal rights

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This study involved a scleractinian coral (Plesiastrea versipora) which, as an invertebrate species, is not covered by the scope of the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes. All organisms involved in this study were sampled under a scientific collection permit (No: P03/0029-5.1).

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Olander, A., Raina, JB., Lawson, C.A. et al. Distinct emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds from temperate benthic taxa. Metabolomics 20, 9 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-023-02070-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-023-02070-2

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