A view from the countryside

Guest Editorial

A view from the countryside     

Chemically mediated interactions between the red algaPlocamium hamatum (Rhodophyta) and the octocoralSinularia cruciata (Alcyonacea)

Interactions between the red algaPlocamium hamatum J. Agardh (Rhodophyta) and other benthic organisms including the alcyonacean soft coralSinularia cruciata (Tixier-Durivault) were investigated on an inshore fringing reef environment in whichP. hamatum was the dominant large fleshy alga. Field observations of sessile reef organisms including octocorals and sponges living in close proximity toP. hamatum revealed that varying degrees of tissue necrosis were suffered by the invertebrates when in physical contact with the alga. In order to establish whether the chemical constituents of the alga, especially chloromertensene, played a role in this necrosis, manipulative field experiments were carried out in the Pelorus Channel, Palm Island group (18°34S; 146°29E), North Queensland, Australia, in November and December 1988. The first experiment involved the relocation of healthy plants and soft corals into contact and non-contact situations on a mesh grid. In all cases of contact betweenP. hamatum andS. cruciata, the soft coral suffered tissue necrosis (n=6,p=0.0022). The second experiment had the same design, but involved the use of artificial plants both uncoated and coated with natural levels of chloromertensene, in contact withS. cruciata. In all cases of contact with coated treatments, necrosis was observed inS. cruciata (n=4,p=0.025). In cases where uncoated artificial fronds were placed in contact with soft corals,S. cruciata showed minor abrasion effects, but no appreciable necrosis. Coated treatments were not fouled by epiphytes during the experiment and were not consumed by predators. Uncoated treatments were rapidly reduced in size by predation and any remaining material was biofouled. These experiments thus demonstrated that the deleterious effects observed in soft corals in the field were caused by contact with the algaP. hamatum, that these effects were indeed chemically mediated by chloromertensene, and that physical contact without chemical intervention caused no such deleterious effects. This is the first experimental evidence which conclusively demonstrates allelopathy between an alga and other marine organisms and identifies the compound responsible for the observed allelopathic effects.     

Characteristic features of body composition and metabolism in some interzonal copepods

Protein, lipid, phosphorus, and organic carbon contents, as well as electron transport system (ETS) activity, lactatedehydrogenase activity, and gut evacuation rate, were measured in four interzonal species of Pacific copepods:Calanus australis, C. pacificus, Eucalanus inermis, andE. elongatus f.hyalinus, collected at the upwelling areas off Peru (8°S) and California (27°N), and in the middle of the North Pacific (30°N), from February to April 1987. The two Eucalanidae species —E. inermis andE. elongatus — have distinctive biochemical and elemental body composition and rates of main physiological processes. Relative protein, lipid, phosphorus, and organic carbon contents (µg mg^–1 wet weight) in these species were, respectively, ca. 1/7 to 1/10, 1/5 to 1/20, 1/5 to 1/10, and 1/5 those inCalanus spp. Likewise, oxygen uptake rate per unit of wet weight (based on ETS activity) inE. inermis andE. elongatus was 5 to 10% of that in calanids; a similar difference was found in phosphorus excretion rate. In addition, gut evacuation rates inE. inermis andE. elongatus were ca. one-fifth of those inCalanus spp. Based on these data, we considered the eucalanids as belonging to a distinctive physiological group, figuratively named jelly-body copepods. In contrast with calanids, active lactatedehydrogenase has been found in the bodies ofE. inermis andE. elongatus, apparently allowing them to survive for a long time in layers of extremely low oxygen content (<0.2 ml l^–1). The adaptive value of physiological features in these eucalanids and typical calanids is compared.