Invasion success of the seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla correlates with low palatibility

Hammann, Mareike; Wang, Gaoge; Rickert, Esther; Boo, Sung Min; Weinberger, Florian

doi:10.3354/meps10361

Cited by 43 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Transportation of the specimens while wrapped in paper towels wetted with seawater and placed in coolers did not result in any measurable stress or mortality (Hammann et al . ). Prior to extraction of the antifouling metabolites, specimens originating from all 10 populations were maintained in 10 separate aquaria (20 L each) in a climate‐controlled chamber under identical aeration, temperature (16 °C), salinity (24 psu artificial seawater [Instant Ocean, Blacksburg, VA]) and light conditions (160 μmol m −2 s −1 ) for 7 days to allow acclimation to laboratory conditions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Invasive populations of this alga are of lower palatability than native populations to both native and non‐native generalist herbivores (Hammann et al . ). These invasive populations also exhibit a significantly increased capacity of activated defences against consumers by increasing their production of prostaglandins and other oxylipins after wounding (Hammann et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Forslund, Wikström & Pavia ; Hammann et al . , ), the importance of algal antifouling defences (i.e. defence against foulers) facilitating invasion success has not received any attention yet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The foregoing shows that multiple traits relevant to the resistance against biotic (herbivory) and abiotic (heat) stress are found in the invasive population of this alga (Hammann et al . , ; Hammann ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid adaptation to controlling new microbial epibionts in the invaded range promotes invasiveness of an exotic seaweed

et al. 2016

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Summary Rapid adaptation to novel biotic interactions and abiotic factors in introduced ranges can be critical to invasion success of both exotic terrestrial and aquatic plants. Seaweeds are extremely successful biological invaders in marine environments. Along with herbivores, foulers − ubiquitous enemies in the marine environment − have the potential to determine the success or failure of invasive seaweeds. However, research on the topic of rapid adaptation of seaweeds to biotic challenges is still in its nascent stages and rapid adaptation of seaweeds to fouling is unexplored. We tested whether the impressive invasion success of the red macroalga Gracilaria vermiculophylla may be enhanced by the rapid adaptation of chemical control (defence) of new bacterial epibionts in the invaded range. The native and invasive G. vermiculophylla populations investigated were equally well defended against currently co‐occurring bacterial epibionts isolated from their respective ranges. In contrast, the native populations were weakly defended against bacterial epibionts from the invaded range, whereas the invasive populations were weakly defended against bacterial epibionts from their native range. Apparently during the invasion process, invasive populations have adapted their control capacity to cope with the new epibionts but have lost the capacity to fend off old epibionts. Synthesis. These results provide the first evidence that a change in habitat and, thus, confrontation by new enemies, may trigger rapid defence adaptation of seaweeds, which could be necessary for invasiveness. Such adaptation dynamics as found in the current study could be also applicable to other types of host plant – enemy interaction e.g. plant root – microbe interactions, freshwater plant – fouler interactions in general and for cases of shifting plant – enemy interactions in course of climate change.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rapid adaptation to controlling new microbial epibionts in the invaded range promotes invasiveness of an exotic seaweed

et al. 2016

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“…Small invertebrates including amphipods, gastropods, shrimp, and crabs are abundant on Gracilaria (Nyberg et al 2009, Byers et al 2012) but it remains unclear whether these invertebrates are responding to Gracilaria as a source of food, protective structure or an abiotic ameliorator. In Europe, mesograzers generally eat only small amounts of invasive Gracilaria (Nejrup et al 2012, Hammann et al 2013.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering or food? mechanisms of facilitation by a habitat‐forming invasive seaweed

Wright

Byers

DeVore

et al. 2014

Ecology

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Abstract. Nonnative species that form novel habitats strongly affect ecosystem processes. The effects of these ecosystem engineers can be both positive and negative but the mechanisms behind their effects are not well described. In this study we determined the relative importance of three main mechanisms by which invasive ecosystem engineers can facilitate native fauna. The engineer may provide new physical structure that reduces harsh abiotic conditions or gives refuge from predation (both engineering mechanisms), or provide a new profitable food resource (a trophic mechanism). The invasive seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla is a novel addition to estuarine intertidal mudflats of the southeastern United States. The epifaunal amphipod Gammarus mucronatus is up to 100 times more abundant on Gracilaria-invaded mudflats compared to uninvaded mudflats. Feeding assays, a survivorship experiment and stable isotope analysis demonstrated that Gammarus consumes little Gracilaria and cannot survive on Gracilaria alone. However, the structural engineering effects of Gracilaria greatly enhanced the survivorship of Gammarus in the presence of predators during high tide and when exposed to harsh abiotic conditions during low tide. Our results demonstrate that invasive ecosystem engineers can dramatically affect the distribution and abundance of native species by providing a novel protective structure.

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Genetic identification of source and likely vector of a widespread marine invader

Krueger‐Hadfield

Kollars

Strand

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

153

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The identification of native sources and vectors of introduced species informs their ecological and evolutionary history and may guide policies that seek to prevent future introductions. Population genetics provides a powerful set of tools to identify origins and vectors. However, these tools can mislead when the native range is poorly sampled or few molecular markers are used. Here, we traced the introduction of the Asian seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta) into estuaries in coastal western North America, the eastern United States, Europe, and northwestern Africa by genotyping more than 2,500 thalli from 37 native and 53 non‐native sites at mitochondrial cox1 and 10 nuclear microsatellite loci. Overall, greater than 90% of introduced thalli had a genetic signature similar to thalli sampled from the coastline of northeastern Japan, strongly indicating this region served as the principal source of the invasion. Notably, northeastern Japan exported the vast majority of the oyster Crassostrea gigas during the 20th century. The preponderance of evidence suggests G. vermiculophylla may have been inadvertently introduced with C. gigas shipments and that northeastern Japan is a common source region for estuarine invaders. Each invaded coastline reflected a complex mix of direct introductions from Japan and secondary introductions from other invaded coastlines. The spread of G. vermiculophylla along each coastline was likely facilitated by aquaculture, fishing, and boating activities. Our ability to document a source region was enabled by a robust sampling of locations and loci that previous studies lacked and strong phylogeographic structure along native coastlines.

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Invasion success of the seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla correlates with low palatibility

Cited by 43 publications

References 48 publications

Rapid adaptation to controlling new microbial epibionts in the invaded range promotes invasiveness of an exotic seaweed

Rapid adaptation to controlling new microbial epibionts in the invaded range promotes invasiveness of an exotic seaweed

Engineering or food? mechanisms of facilitation by a habitat‐forming invasive seaweed

Genetic identification of source and likely vector of a widespread marine invader

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