Macroinvertebrate communities from the shallow soft-bottoms of Deception Island (Southern Ocean): A paradise for opportunists

Angulo‐Preckler, Carlos; Leiva, Carlos; Ávila, Conxita; Taboada, Sergi

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.03.008

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…S1 ), subject to intense temperature fluctuations 28 – 30 . After the last eruption in 1970, the local benthos experienced remarkable recolonization of primarily algae and echinoderms, together with detritivore communities 31 , 32 . Currently, three species of echinoderms predominate: the echinoid Sterechinus neumayeri , the ophiuroid Ophionotus victoriae , and among the three most common asteroids stands out Odontaster validus 33 , 34 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the pathology of an epidermal disease affecting a circum-Antarctic sea star

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Angulo‐Preckler

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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Over the past decade, unusual mortality outbreaks have decimated echinoderm populations over broad geographic regions, raising awareness globally of the importance of investigating such events. Echinoderms are key components of marine benthos for top-down and bottom-up regulations of plants and animals; population declines of these individuals can have significant ecosystem-wide effects. Here we describe the first case study of an outbreak affecting Antarctic echinoderms and consisting of an ulcerative epidermal disease affecting ~10% of the population of the keystone asteroid predator Odontaster validus at Deception Island, Antarctica. This event was first detected in the Austral summer 2012–2013, coinciding with unprecedented high seawater temperatures and increased seismicity. Histological analyses revealed epidermal ulceration, inflammation, and necrosis in diseased animals. Bacterial and fungal alpha diversity was consistently lower and of different composition in lesioned versus unaffected tissues (32.87% and 16.94% shared bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units OTUs respectively). The microbiome of healthy stars was more consistent across individuals than in diseased specimens suggesting microbial dysbiosis, especially in the lesion fronts. Because these microbes were not associated with tissue damage at the microscopic level, their contribution to the development of epidermal lesions remains unclear. Our study reveals that disease events are reaching echinoderms as far as the polar regions thereby highlighting the need to develop a greater understanding of the microbiology and physiology of marine diseases and ecosystems health, especially in the era of global warming.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the pathology of an epidermal disease affecting a circum-Antarctic sea star

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Angulo‐Preckler

et al. 2018

Sci Rep

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“…However, several fumaroles and hot springs in Port Foster, located from intertidal to ∼15 m depth enrich the surrounding waters with sulfides and methane and keep the sea surface above them ice-free (Tilbrook & Karl, 1993). Certain increase of local macrofauna around the hot springs was described recently (Angulo-Preckler et al, 2017). In addition, one taxon, apparently restricted to reducing habitat, was found in the sediment around the hydrothermal vents.…”

Section: Presence Of Specific Benthic Communities At C15 and Odenmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…The new taxon was a monocelid flat worm, covered with chemoautotrophic bacteria (Bright et al, 2003). However, no seep-specific macrobenthic communities were observed in Port Foster (Angulo-Preckler et al, 2017), presumably owing to the very shallow depth: the maximum chemoautotrophic activity and the peak abundance of monocelid worms were recorded at 1-2 m depth (Bright et al, 2003).…”

Section: Presence Of Specific Benthic Communities At C15 and Odenmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The only investigated shallow-water reducing habitat comparable in the primary production level to the Laptev Sea is the hydrothermal vent of the volcanic Deception Island, Antarctica. Environmental conditions in the inner bay (Port Foster) of the Deception Island are oligotrophic, most of the surface is ice-covered during austral winter (Bright et al, 2003;Angulo-Preckler et al, 2017). However, several fumaroles and hot springs in Port Foster, located from intertidal to ∼15 m depth enrich the surrounding waters with sulfides and methane and keep the sea surface above them ice-free (Tilbrook & Karl, 1993).…”

Section: Presence Of Specific Benthic Communities At C15 and Odenmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fauna associated with shallow-water methane seeps in the Laptev Sea

Vedenin

Kokarev

Chikina

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Background Methane seeps support unique benthic ecosystems in the deep sea existing due to chemosynthetic organic matter. In contrast, in shallow waters there is little or no effect of methane seeps on macrofauna. In the present study we focused on the recently described methane discharge area at the northern Laptev Sea shelf. The aim of this work was to describe the shallow-water methane seep macrofauna and to understand whether there are differences in macrobenthic community structure between the methane seep and background areas. Methods Samples of macrofauna were taken during three expeditions of RV Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in 2015, 2017 and 2018 using 0.1 m2 grabs and the Sigsbee trawl. 21 grabs and two trawls in total were taken at two methane seep sites named Oden and C15, located at depths of 60–70 m. For control, three 0.1 m2 grabs were taken in area without methane seepage. Results The abundance of macrofauna was higher at methane seep stations compared to non-seep sites. Cluster analysis revealed five station groups corresponding to control area, Oden site and C15 site (the latter represented by three groups). Taxa responsible for differences among the station groups were mostly widespread Arctic species that were more abundant in samples from methane seep sites. However, high densities of symbiotrophic siboglinids Oligobrachia sp. were found exclusively at methane seep stations. In addition, several species possibly new to science were found at several methane seep stations, including the gastropod Frigidalvania sp. and the polychaete Ophryotrocha sp. The fauna at control stations was represented only by well-known and widespread Arctic taxa. Higher habitat heterogeneity of the C15 site compared to Oden was indicated by the higher number of station groups revealed by cluster analysis and higher species richness in C15 trawl sample. The development of the described communities at the shallow-water methane seeps can be related to pronounced oligotrophic environment on the northern Siberian shelf.

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“…In fact, evidence from feeding experiments shows that organisms that are not normally part of the diet of a particular nemertean species are only slightly or not at all affected by its proboscis secretions ( Gibson 1972 ; ROE 1976 ), suggesting dietary specialization might be an important driver of venom composition in ribbon worms. Antarctonemertes valida and its congeneric A. riesgoae ( Taboada et al 2013 ) are relatively common in shallow waters of the Southern Ocean ( Taboada et al 2013 ; Taboada et al 2018 ) and although no direct evidence exists on their trophic preferences, the amphipod Cheirimedon femoratus ( Pfeffer 1888 ) might represent one of their main food sources as it reaches remarkable densities in the same habitats (e.g., Aghmich et al 2016 ; Angulo-Preckler et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution, Expression Patterns, and Distribution of Novel Ribbon Worm Predatory and Defensive Toxins

Verdes

Taboada

Hamilton

et al. 2022

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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Ribbon worms are active predators that use an eversible proboscis to inject venom into their prey and defend themselves with toxic epidermal secretions. Previous work on nemertean venom has largely focused on just a few species and has not investigated the different predatory and defensive secretions in detail. Consequently, our understanding of the composition and evolution of ribbon worm venoms is still very limited. Here, we present a comparative study of nemertean venom combining RNA-seq differential gene expression analyses of venom producing tissues, tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomics of toxic secretions, and mass spectrometry imaging of proboscis sections, to shed light onto the composition and evolution of predatory and defensive toxic secretions in Antarctonemertes valida. Our analyses reveal a wide diversity of putative defensive and predatory toxins with tissue-specific gene expression patterns and restricted distributions to the mucus and proboscis proteomes respectively, suggesting that ribbon worms produce distinct toxin cocktails for predation and defense. Our results also highlight the presence of numerous lineage-specific toxins, indicating that venom evolution is highly divergent across nemerteans, producing toxin cocktails that might be finely tuned to subdue different prey. Our data also suggests that the hoplonemertean proboscis is a highly specialized predatory organ that seems to be involved in a variety of biological functions besides predation, including secretion and sensory perception. Overall, our results advance our knowledge into the diversity and evolution of nemertean venoms and highlight the importance of combining different types of data to characterize toxin composition in understudied venomous organisms.

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Macroinvertebrate communities from the shallow soft-bottoms of Deception Island (Southern Ocean): A paradise for opportunists

Cited by 15 publications

References 44 publications

Exploring the pathology of an epidermal disease affecting a circum-Antarctic sea star

Exploring the pathology of an epidermal disease affecting a circum-Antarctic sea star

Fauna associated with shallow-water methane seeps in the Laptev Sea

Evolution, Expression Patterns, and Distribution of Novel Ribbon Worm Predatory and Defensive Toxins

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