Nutritional and reproductive strategies in a chemosymbiotic bivalve living in a tropical intertidal seagrass bed

Geest, Matthijs van der; Sall, Amadou Abderahmane; Ely, Sidi Ould; Nauta, Reinier; Gils, Jan A. van; Piersma, Theunis

doi:10.3354/meps10702

Cited by 32 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…The high consistency in Loripes intake between birds within years favours the first explanation. Differences in toxic load may relate to the mixotrophic life style of Loripes [ 32 ] and potentially has effects on the spatial distribution and population dynamics of Loripes , by influencing predation risk [ 33 , 34 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Digestive Capacity on the Intake Rate of Toxic and Non-Toxic Prey in an Ecological Context

et al. 2015

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Digestive capacity often limits food intake rate in animals. Many species can flexibly adjust digestive organ mass, enabling them to increase intake rate in times of increased energy requirement and/or scarcity of high-quality prey. However, some prey species are defended by secondary compounds, thereby forcing a toxin limitation on the forager’s intake rate, a constraint that potentially cannot be alleviated by enlarging digestive capacity. Hence, physiological flexibility may have a differential effect on intake of different prey types, and consequently on dietary preferences. We tested this effect in red knots (Calidris canutus canutus), medium-sized migratory shorebirds that feed on hard-shelled, usually mollusc, prey. Because they ingest their prey whole and crush the shell in their gizzard, the intake rate of red knots is generally constrained by digestive capacity. However, one of their main prey, the bivalve Loripes lucinalis, imposes a toxin constraint due to its symbiosis with sulphide-oxidizing bacteria. We manipulated gizzard sizes of red knots through prolonged exposure to hard-shelled or soft foods. We then measured maximum intake rates of toxic Loripes versus a non-toxic bivalve, Dosinia isocardia. We found that intake of Dosinia exponentially increased with gizzard mass, confirming earlier results with non-toxic prey, whereas intake of Loripes was independent of gizzard mass. Using linear programming, we show that this leads to markedly different expected diet preferences in red knots that try to maximize energy intake rate with a small versus a large gizzard. Intra- and inter-individual variation in digestive capacity is found in many animal species. Hence, the here proposed functional link with individual differences in foraging decisions may be general. We emphasize the potential relevance of individual variation in physiology when studying trophic interactions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Digestive Capacity on the Intake Rate of Toxic and Non-Toxic Prey in an Ecological Context

et al. 2015

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“…orbiculatus is able to supplement its diet with filter feeding on a seasonal basis [7]. Here we show that not only the host, but also the chemoautotrophic symbionts may modulate their metabolic activities according to the availability of external (or recycled) resources.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Still, we know little about nutrient cycling in lucinid bivalves at both the organismal and the ecosystem scale. Most studies to date have focused on carbon (C) fixation by the symbionts and transfer to the host [5,6] or on the additional contribution of filter feeding to host nutrition [7]. Nitrogen (N) metabolism has received far less attention until recently, when dinitrogen (N 2 ) fixation by chemosynthetic symbionts was shown to be possible in two lucinid species [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemosymbiotic bivalves contribute to the nitrogen budget of seagrass ecosystems

Cardini

Bartoli

Lee

et al. 2019

Preprint

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In many seagrass sediments, lucinid bivalves and their sulfur-oxidizing symbionts are thought to underpin key ecosystem functions, but little is known about their role in nutrient cycles, particularly nitrogen. We used natural stable isotopes, elemental analyses, and stable isotope probing to study the ecological stoichiometry of a lucinid symbiosis in spring and fall. Chemoautotrophy appeared to dominate in fall, when chemoautotrophic carbon fixation rates were up to one order of magnitude higher as compared to the spring, suggesting a flexible nutritional mutualism. In fall, an isotope pool dilution experiment revealed carbon limitation of the symbiosis and ammonium excretion rates up to 10-fold higher compared to fluxes reported for non-symbiotic marine bivalves. These results provide evidence that lucinid bivalves can contribute substantial amounts of ammonium to the ecosystem. Given the preference of seagrasses for this nitrogen source, lucinid bivalves’ contribution may boost productivity of these important blue carbon ecosystems.

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“…These results imply that in our temperate study system, the L. orbiculatus population was close to carrying capacity, and that under current environmental (i.e., sulfide) conditions, the experimentally enhanced L. orbiculatus densities cannot be sustained in the long term. As body condition of L. orbiculatus is known to be positively correlated with reproductive output (Van Der Geest et al, 2014) and likely also with growth and survival (Paine, 1976), the population size of L. orbiculatus is expected to increase when organic inputs and associated pore water sulfide production gradually increase over time. This could eventually lead to a new equilibrium where the higher sulfide productions rates are again buffered by the L. orbiculatus population that has now increased in size, thus resulting in overall low sediment van der Geest et al L. orbiculatus condition expressed as the flesh/shell dry weight (DW) ratio per treatment (n = 6 per treatment) after 50 days.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We use the subtidal seagrass beds dominated by Zostera noltei in Thau lagoon (France), which are known to be inhabited by the lucinid bivalve Loripes orbiculatus (synonyms L. lucinalis and L. lacteus) (Rossi et al, 2013). Like all lucinid bivalves investigated so far, L. orbiculatus mainly lives off carbon products provided by sulfide-oxidizing chemoautotrophic bacteria [i.e., Candidatus Thiodiazotropha endoloripes (Petersen et al, 2016)] living inside its gills (Van Der Geest et al, 2014). In this symbiotic association, the bivalve host favors chemosynthesis by its gill-symbionts by facilitating the supply of sulfide, carbon dioxide and oxygen to its gills.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Field-Based Evidence That the Seagrass-Lucinid Mutualism Can Mitigate Sulfide Stress in Seagrasses

et al. 2020

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Nutritional and reproductive strategies in a chemosymbiotic bivalve living in a tropical intertidal seagrass bed

Cited by 32 publications

References 60 publications

The Effect of Digestive Capacity on the Intake Rate of Toxic and Non-Toxic Prey in an Ecological Context

The Effect of Digestive Capacity on the Intake Rate of Toxic and Non-Toxic Prey in an Ecological Context

Chemosymbiotic bivalves contribute to the nitrogen budget of seagrass ecosystems

First Field-Based Evidence That the Seagrass-Lucinid Mutualism Can Mitigate Sulfide Stress in Seagrasses

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