Colonial ascidians strongly preyed upon, yet dominate the substrate in a subtropical fouling community

Autor(es)

Hiebert, Laurel Sky ^{[1, 2]} ; Vieira, Edson A. ^{[2, 3]} ; Dias, Gustavo M. ^{[2, 3]} ; Tiozzo, Stefano ^[4] ; Brown, Federico D. ^{[1, 5, 2]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Zool, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Biol Marinha CEBIMar, BR-11612109 Sao Sebastiao - Brazil

^[3] Univ Fed ABC, Ctr Ciencias Nat & Humanas, Rua Arcturus 03 Jd Antares, BR-09606070 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Sorbonne Univ, CNRS, Lab Biol Dev Villefranche sur mer LBDV, F-06230 Villefranche Sur Mer - France

^[5] Inst Nacl Ciencia & Tecnol Estudos Interdisciplin, Salvador, BA - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; v. 286, n. 1899 MAR 20 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Higher diversity and dominance at lower latitudes has been suggested for colonial species. We verified this pattern in species richness of ascidians, finding that higher colonial-to-solitary species ratios occur in the tropics and subtropics. At the latitudinal region with the highest ratio, in southeastern Brazil, we confirmed that colonial species dominate space on artificial plates in two independent studies of five fouling communities. We manipulated settlement plates to measure effects of predation and competition on growth and survivorship of colonial versus solitary ascidians. Eight species were subjected to a predation treatment, i.e. caged versus exposed to predators, and a competition treatment, i.e. leaving versus removing competitors, to assess main and interactive effects. Predation had a greater effect on growth and survivorship of colonial compared to solitary species, whereas competition did not show consistent patterns. We hypothesize that colonial ascidians dominate at this subtropical site despite being highly preyed upon because they regrow when partially consumed and can adjust in shape and space to grow into refuges. We contend that these means of avoiding mortality from predation can have large influences on diversification patterns of colonial species at low latitudes, where predation intensity is greater. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 15/50164-5 - Células-tronco, brotação e a evolução da colonialidade em ascídias
• Beneficiário: Federico David Brown Almeida
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Apoio a Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 15/14052-8 - Origens da colonialidade: mecanismos de desenvolvimento e direcionalidade da coalescência colonial em ascídias
• Beneficiário: Laurel Sky Hiebert
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 16/17647-5 - Consequência das alterações causadas por marinas de recreação em ambientes costeiros para organismos inscrustantes marinhos
• Beneficiário: Gustavo Muniz Dias
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular