Dyck and DeWreede, 2006b). For most seaweeds, such breakage soon translates into death for dislodged portions of thalli. Indeed, dislodged thalli and frond fragments form important carbon and nitrogen sources in coastal and nearshore environments (e.g. Rossi and Underwood, 2002;Dugan et al., 2003;Orr et al., 2005;Liebezeit et al., 2008;Lastra et al., 2008).Nonetheless, biomechanical models of macroalgal breakage have frequently underestimated, and sometimes greatly underestimated, breakage of seaweeds due to wave-imposed forces. The traditional approach has involved determination of a seaweed's breaking strength and comparison of this strength with maximal wave-induced force, with breakage often under-predicted (Koehl and Alberte, 1988;Gaylord et al., 1994;Johnson and Koehl, 1994;Friedland and Denny, 1995;Utter and Denny, 1996;Denny et al., 1997;Johnson, 2001;Kitzes and Denny, 2005). Researchers have suggested that other factors, such as damage due to herbivory, abrasion or physiological stressors, may account for observed breakage rates, weakening fronds that individual waves then break (Friedland and Denny, 1995;Utter and Denny, 1996;Kitzes and Denny, 2005;Denny, 2006).Additionally, researchers have investigated the possibility that seaweeds break not just from large individual wave-imposed forces but from damage accumulated over a series of wave-imposed forces (Hale, 2001;Mach et al., 2007a;Mach et al., 2007b;Mach, 2009 Accepted 24 January 2011 SUMMARY Seaweeds inhabiting the extreme hydrodynamic environment of wave-swept shores break frequently. However, traditional biomechanical analyses, evaluating breakage due to the largest individual waves, have perennially underestimated rates of macroalgal breakage. Recent laboratory testing has established that some seaweeds fail by fatigue, accumulating damage over a series of force impositions. Failure by fatigue may thus account, in part, for the discrepancy between prior breakage predictions, based on individual not repeated wave forces, and reality. Nonetheless, the degree to which fatigue breaks seaweeds on waveswept shores remains unknown. Here, we developed a model of fatigue breakage due to wave-induced forces for the macroalga Mazzaella flaccida. To test model performance, we made extensive measurements of M. flaccida breakage and of wave-induced velocities experienced by the macroalga. The fatigue-breakage model accounted for significantly more breakage than traditional prediction methods. For life history phases modeled most accurately, 105% (for female gametophytes) and 79% (for tetrasporophytes) of field-observed breakage was predicted, on average. When M. flaccida fronds displayed attributes such as temperature stress and substantial tattering, the fatigue-breakage model underestimated breakage, suggesting that these attributes weaken fronds and lead to more rapid breakage. Exposure to waves had the greatest influence on model performance. At the most wave-protected sites, the model underpredicted breakage, and at the most wave-exposed sites, it overp...
Evolutionary theory predicts that, in variable environments, it is advantageous for ectothermic organisms to prefer a body temperature slightly below the physiological optimum. This theory works well for many terrestrial organisms but has not been tested for animals inhabiting the hypervariable physical environment of intertidal shores. In laboratory experiments, we allowed the intertidal snail Chlorostoma funebralis to position itself on a temperature gradient, then measured its thermal preference and determined an index of how its performance varied with temperature. Snails performed a biased random walk along the temperature gradient, which, contrary to expectations, caused them to aggregate where body temperature was 15 to 17 °C below their temperature of optimum performance and near the species' lower thermal limit. This "cold-biased" behavioral response may guide snails to refuges in shaded cracks and crevices, but potentially precludes C. funebralis from taking full advantage of its physiological capabilities.
SUMMARYIntertidal organisms are subjected to intense hydrodynamic forces as waves break on the shore. These repeated insults can cause a plant or animal's structural materials to fatigue and fail, even though no single force would be sufficient to break the organism. Indeed, the survivorship and maximum size of at least one species of seaweed is set by the accumulated effects of small forces rather than the catastrophic imposition of a single lethal force. One might suppose that fatigue would be especially potent in articulated coralline algae, in which the strain of the entire structure is concentrated in localized joints, the genicula. However, previous studies of joint morphology suggest an alternative hypothesis. Each geniculum is composed of a single tier of cells, which are attached at their ends to the calcified segments of the plant (the intergenicula) but have minimal connection to each other along their lengths. This lack of neighborly attachment potentially allows the weak interfaces between cells to act as 'crack stoppers', inhibiting the growth of fatigue cracks. We tested this possibility by repeatedly loading fronds of Calliarthron cheilosporioides, a coralline alga common on wave-washed shores in California. When repeatedly loaded to 50-80% of its breaking strength, C. cheilosporioides commonly survives more than a million stress cycles, with a record of 51 million. We show how this extraordinary fatigue resistance interacts with the distribution of wave-induced water velocities to set the limits to size in this species.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.