Deterrent activities in the crude lipophilic fractions of Antarctic benthic organisms: chemical defences against keystone predators

Polar research

Conxita Avila²  Laura Núñez-Pons³ 

[1] Biodiversity Research Institute, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, ES-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain;Biodiversity Research Institute, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, ES-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, SpainCorrespondence;Department of Animal Biology (Invertebrates) &

关键词: Antarctic invertebrates;    Antarctic algae;    chemical ecology;    sea star Odontaster validus;    amphipod Cheirimedon femoratus;    chemical defence;   

DOI  :  10.3402/polar.v33.21624

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: Co-Action Publishing

【 摘 要 】

Generalist predation constitutes a driving force for the evolution of chemical defences. In the Antarctic benthos, asteroids and omnivore amphipods are keystone opportunistic predators. Sessile organisms are therefore expected to develop defensive mechanisms mainly against such consumers. However, the different habits characterizing each predator may promote variable responses in prey. Feeding-deterrence experiments were performed with the circumpolar asteroid macropredator Odontaster validus to evaluate the presence of defences within the apolar lipophilic fraction of Antarctic invertebrates and macroalgae. A total of 51% of the extracts were repellent, yielding a proportion of 17 defended species out of the 31 assessed. These results are compared with a previous study in which the same fractions were offered to the abundant circum-Antarctic amphipod Cheirimedon femoratus. Overall, less deterrence was reported towards asteroids (51%) than against amphipods (80.8%), principally in sponge and algal extract...

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC