Effects of Endolithic Parasitism on Invasive and Indigenous Mussels in a Variable Physical Environment

Biotic stress may operate in concert with physical environmental conditions to limit or facilitate invasion processes while altering competitive interactions between invaders and native species. Here, we examine how endolithic parasitism of an invasive and an indigenous mussel species acts in synergy with abiotic conditions of the habitat. Our results show that the invasive Mytilus galloprovincialis is more infested than the native Perna perna and this difference is probably due to the greater thickness of the protective outer-layer of the shell of the indigenous species. Higher abrasion due to waves on the open coast could account for dissimilarities in degree of infestation between bays and the more wave-exposed open coast. Also micro-scale variations of light affected the level of endolithic parasitism, which was more intense at non-shaded sites. The higher levels of endolithic parasitism in Mytilus mirrored greater mortality rates attributed to parasitism in this species. Condition index, attachment strength and shell strength of both species were negatively affected by the parasites suggesting an energy trade-off between the need to repair the damaged shell and the other physiological parameters. We suggest that, because it has a lower attachment strength and a thinner shell, the invasiveness of M. galloprovincialis will be limited at sun and wave exposed locations where endolithic activity, shell scouring and risk of dislodgement are high. These results underline the crucial role of physical environment in regulating biotic stress, and how these physical-biological interactions may explain site-to-site variability of competitive balances between invasive and indigenous species

Widespread association of a Rickettsiales-like bacterium with reef-building corals

White band disease type I (WBD I) has been a major cause of the dramatic decline of Acroporid coral populations throughout the Caribbean during the last two decades, yet the aetiological agent of this disease is unknown. In this study, the bacterial communities associated with both healthy and diseased Acropora species were compared by 16S rDNA analyses. The bacterial communities of both healthy and diseased Acropora spp. were dominated by a single ribotype with 90% identity to a bacterium in the order Rickettsiales. Screening by nested PCR specific to the coral-associated Rickettsiales 1 (CAR1) bacterium showed that this microbe was widespread in both healthy and diseased A. cervicornis and A. palmata corals from 'healthy' (i.e. low WBD I incidence) and 'stressed' reefs (i.e. high WBD I incidence). These results indicate that there were no dramatic changes in the composition of the microbial community associated with WBD I. CAR1 was also associated with non-Acroporid corals of the Caribbean, as well as with two Acroporid corals native to the Pacific. CAR1 was not present in the water column. This bacterium was also absent from preserved Caribbean Acroporid samples collected between 1937 and 1980 before the outbreak of WBD I. These results suggest CAR1 is a relatively new bacterial associate of Acroporids and that a non-bacterial pathogen might be the cause of WBD I

Between a rock and a hard place: combined effect of trampling and phototrophic shell-degrading endoliths in marine intertidal mussels

Ecosystems often face a complex combination of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The assessment of anthropogenic pressures and co-occurring natural stressors is crucial to our understanding of ecosystem structures, dynamics and their conservation. The present study provides the first experimental assessment of the combined effects of trampling (anthropogenic stressor) and endolithic induced erosion (natural stressor) on two coexisting intertidal mussel species, Mytilus galloprovincialis (de Lamarck, 1819) and Perna perna (Linnaeus, 1758). Mixed beds of the two species experiencing a wide range of endolithic parasitation were exposed to increasing intensities of human trampling. Our results clearly show that endolith-infested mussels are more vulnerable to trampling than non-infested individuals. At high trampling intensities, P. perna suffered significantly lower mortalities rates than M. galloprovincialis. More than 20% of large, infested M. galloprovincialis individuals were crushed even at low trampling intensities. Unexpectedly, mortalities rates decreased with mussel size, suggesting a sheltering role of larger conspecifics. Beyond ecological interest, such findings can provide critical experimental support for conservation and management actions.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT-MEC, Portugal) [UID/Multi/04326/2013, IF/01413/2014/CP1217/CT0004]South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) of Department of Science and Technology (DST)National Research Foundation (NRF

Possible animal-body fossils in pre-Marinoan limestones from South Australia

The Neoproterozoic era was punctuated by the Sturtian (about 710 million years ago) and Marinoan (about 635 million years ago) intervals of glaciation. In South Australia, the rocks left behind by the glaciations are separated by a succession of limestones and shales, which were deposited at tropical latitudes. Here we describe millimetre- to centimetre-scale fossils from the Trezona Formation, which pre-dates the Marinoan glaciation. These weakly calcified fossils occur as anvil, wishbone, ring and perforated slab shapes and are contained within stromatolitic limestones. The Trezona Formation fossils pre-date the oldest known calcified fossils of this size by 90 million years, and cannot be separated from the surrounding calcite matrix or imaged by traditional X-ray-based tomographic scanning methods. Instead, we have traced cross-sections of individual fossils by serially grinding and scanning each sample at a resolution of 50.8 μm. From these images we constructed three-dimensional digital models of the fossils. Our reconstructions show a population of ellipsoidal organisms without symmetry and with a network of interior canals that lead to circular apertures on the fossil surface. We suggest that several characteristics of these reef-dwelling fossils are best explained if the fossils are identified as sponge-grade metazoans.</p