Physiological energetics of the ascidian Styela clava in relation to body size and temperature

Effects of Contingency versus Constraints on the Body-Mass Scaling of Metabolic Rate

“…Therefore, in sedentery (immobile) organisms, a thermally increased metabolic level should result in a lowered metabolic scaling exponent, whereas, in actively mobile animals, a thermally increased metabolic level may result in a variety of effects on the metabolic scaling exponent, depending on the relative size-specific effects of T a on activity level (also see [26]). Consistent with this hypothesis, sedentery or mostly stationary organisms (including plants, oysters, mussels, chitons, and ascideans) usually show strong negative associations between T a and the resting metabolic scaling exponent (e.g., [110][111][112][113][114]), whereas actively mobile animals show a variety of responses (as reviewed in [16,26]; and as shown in an unpublished data set). As further evidence, when the effects of activity are removed in an actively mobile species, such as the fish Coregonus albula, T a and the resting metabolic scaling exponent are strongly negatively correlated [115], as predicted by the MLBH [16,26].…”

A new integrated multi-trophic aquaculture system consisting of Styela clava, microalgae, and Stichopus japonicus

“…Moreover, compared with other major commercial filter feeders, S. clava has the following advantages used in bioremediation: (1) S. clava seldom serves as bait for other animals in the sea, so the various pollutants in its body filtered from seawater, such as heavy metal and pesticide residue, are seldom transmitted in the food chain, which results in less pollution in the sea and suggests their greater potential as environmental remedy for the sea; (2) compared with filter feeding shellfish, S. clava is more capable of filtering water and excreting less nitrogen, its ammonia excretion rate being reported as 0.97-2.13 lg/h/g of dry weight, lower than Crassostrea gigas (2.40-13.20 lg/h/g of dry weight) and Argopecten irradians (6.16-29.8 lg/h/g of dry weight) by Wang et al(1998); (3) S. clava is immune to contamination showing great vitality, and it is found that while the scallops at the same ecological niche succumb to death at a large scale, S. clava multiplies each year; (4) Compared with sponges (Fu et al 2007), sessile S. clava gathers at a larger amount easier to be collected and harvested (Jiang et al 2008). S. clava has been successfully cultured in Dalian and Yantai of China, and it is the ideal organism for the aquaculture water body bioremediation along the coast.…”

“…Secondly, S. clava lives in almost all seawaters and freshwaters all over the world, and occupies a large proportion of biomass especially in the coastal waters (Jiang et al 2009). Thirdly, S. clava is highly efficient in pumping water, reaching an amount of 7.53 L/(h ind) (Jiang et al 2008), about 28.6 L/h/g of dry weight, higher than pearl oysters's 25 L/h/g of dry weight as described by Gifford et al (2004).…”

“…S. clava is able to transfer a large amount of particulate organic matter (POM) from the surface to the bottom through filter feeding and excreting carrying the surface production to the sediments. Meanwhile, S. clava converts the nutrition in the particles into the dissolved component (such as NH 3 ) or biological substance through metabolization and releases them in the water and then deposits down to the sediments (Jiang et al 2008;Ribes et al 2005).…”

“…Styela clava has a strong ability to filter water to remove suspended particles very well (Jiang et al 2008;Ribes et al 2005). What is more, the sediments from S. clava may deposit to the bottom of water to provide essential food for benthos and have effect on the benthic ecological environment.…”