Possible role of marine bacteria in providing the creosote-resistance of Limnoria tripunctata

Electron microscopic examination of thin-sectioned Limnoria tripunctata from creosoted and untreated wood substrates from Panama, Florida, and laboratory aquaria, coupled with limnorian behavioral studies revealed that bacteria may contribute to the wood boring, nutrition, and creosote-resistance of these isopods. Ingested along with wood fragments and encased in a peritrophic membrane in the isopod intestine, these bacteria, upon lysis, may provide supplemental nutrition to the nitrogen-poor wood diet of L. tripunctata. Ingested material has never been observed in the digestive diverticula of limnorians and the presence of the peritrophic membrane in the isopod intestine has been correlated with feeding. Isopods from creosoted wood differed from those inhabiting untreated wood in that the former contained relatively larger and more diverse bacterial populations both on their exoskeletons and in their gut contents. These isopods harbored bacteria, which apparently bypassed the peritrophic membrane and lived in association with the isopod intestinal lining. These gut-associated bacteria were lost when laboratory isopods reared on creosoted wood were transferred to untreated wood. Laboratory isopods reared solely on creosoted or untreated wood were exposed to creosoted and untreated wood substrates, both sterilized and unsterilized. Boring and mortality data from these studies indicated that the creosote-reared population had a microbial flora whose activity facilitated isopod colonization of creosoted substrates. We present the hypothesis that creosote hydrocarbons provide nutrition for isopod-associated bacterial populations and that L. tripunctata may benefit from a concomitant bacterial detoxification of the creosote.