Hemichordates as a model system for investigating intertidal zonation in soft sediments

Intertidal zonation of organisms is well studied on rocky shores but less so in soft sediment communities. On rocky shores, biotic factors such as predation often set the lower bound of a zone, while abiotic factors set the upper bound. Here I describe the zonation of hemichordate worms at two field sites in Maine and Virginia. In Virginia, Saccoglossus kowalevskii occurs in the mid-intertidal zone at densities up to 500 m-2. In Maine, two hemichordate species, Saccoglossus bromophenolosus and Protoglossus graveolens, co-occur at densities approaching 100 m-2. Hemichordates have chemical defenses that appear to deter fish, but not crustacean, predators. Six species of crustaceans and two species of predatory polychaetes were fed all three species of hemichordate. Crustaceans readily consumed hemichordates, while the polychaetes did not. In predator choice experiments, hermit crabs preferred hemichordates over the tissue of blue mussels, while green crabs preferred mussel tissue. These results suggest that, consistent with the rocky intertidal paradigm, the lower bound of the hemichordate zone could be set by crustacean predators, at least some of which appear to prefer hemichordates over palatable alternatives

The Effects of Salinity and pH on Fertilization, Early Development and Hatching in the Crown-of-Thorns Seastar

Understanding the influence of environmental factors on the development and dispersal of crown-of-thorns seastars is critical to predicting when and where outbreaks of these coral-eating seastars will occur. Outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns seastars are hypothesized to be driven by terrestrial runoff events that increase nutrients and the phytoplankton food for the larvae. In addition to increasing larval food supply, terrestrial runoff may also reduce salinity in the waters where seastars develop. We investigated the effects of reduced salinity on the fertilisation and early development of seastars, up to and including their hatching from the fertilisation envelope. We also tested the interactive effects of reduced salinity and reduced pH on the hatching of crown-of-thorns seastars. Overall, we found that reduced salinity has strong negative effects on fertilisation and early development, as has been shown in other echinoderm species. We also found that reduced salinity delays hatching but that reduced pH, in isolation or in combination with lower salinity, had no detectable effects on this developmental milestone. Models that assess the positive effects of terrestrial runoff on the development of crown-of-thorns seastars should also consider the strong negative effects of lower salinity on early development including lower levels of fertilisation, increased frequency of abnormal development and delayed time to hatching

Intertidal Zonation of Hemichordates in Soft Sediments

Intertidal zonation of organisms is well studied on rocky shores but less so in soft sediment communities. On rocky shores, communities are two dimensional, with biotic factors such as competition and predation setting the lower bound of a zone, whereas abiotic factors such as desiccation set the upper bound. In soft sediment communities, these patterns persist, but with a dynamic three-dimensional ecosystem occupied by mobile infaunal organisms, zonation can be more difficult to quantify and detect. Hemichordate worms, however, deposit fecal casts at the surface, which can be easily identified and counted, making them a potential model system for identifying zonation in soft-sediment systems. Here, we describe the intertidal zonation of hemichordate worms at two sites in Maine and Virginia. In Virginia, Saccoglossus kowalevskii occurs in the mid-intertidal at densities up to 500 individuals per square meter, whereas a tube-building polychaete, Spiochaetopterus oculatus, dominates the lower intertidal. In Maine, two hemichordate species, Saccoglossus bromophenolosus and Protoglossus graveolens, co-occur at densities up to 100 individuals per square meter in the mid-intertidal, whereas hermit crabs and errant polychaetes are numerically dominant in the low intertidal. Despite known chemical defenses, crustaceans readily consumed hemichordates in lab assays, although polychaetes did not. In a field tethering experiment, loss rates of hemichordate-flavored agarose pellets increased as tidal height decreased, suggesting that the lower bound of the hemichordate zone could be set by biotic forces such as crustacean predation. Additionally, a field transplant experiment found low survivorship of hemichordates transplanted to the upper intertidal, suggesting that desiccation may set their upper bound. These results are broadly consistent with prior studies of zonation in soft sediments, and expand our limited understanding of basic hemichordate ecology

Larval dispersal and recruitment of benthic invertebrates in the Arctic Ocean

Larval dispersal is a fundamental process responsible for colonization and connectivity of benthic invertebrate populations. It is difficult to study larval dispersal in polar environments because weather and climate conditions restrict sample collection to certain seasons. In this study, we leveraged oceanographic moorings as long-term scientific platforms for collecting larvae and recruits of benthic invertebrate species in the Fram Strait and along the continental slope north of Svalbard in 2017–2021. Larval traps and fouling panels were deployed at various depths on 15 moorings at 8 locations, and additional specimens of biofouling were obtained opportunistically from moored instruments. Our results showed a significant difference in species composition between samples collected in Atlantic Water in the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) and samples collected in Arctic Water near the seafloor and in the East Greenland Current (EGC) in the western part of the Fram Strait. There was also a stark difference between Atlantic Water species in the Fram Strait and on the north Svalbard slope. Most specimens collected in the WSC belonged to species with long-duration planktotrophic larvae, such as the ubiquitous bivalve Hiatella arctica, the bryozoan Alcyonidium mamillatum, and two nudibranchs. Samplers exposed primarily to Arctic water at their given depth and location were dominated by hydrozoans. We observed medusae budding off of the hydroids Stegopoma plicatile and Rhizoragium roseum. Our study demonstrates that the WSC is an important vector for larval dispersal into the central Arctic Ocean. Integration of biological samplers on oceanographic moorings holds great promise for monitoring efforts as climate change progresses, especially in environments where research is challenging and seasonally limited, such as the Arctic. 1. Introduction For benthic invertebrates, especially those with sessile adult stages (e.g., sponges, anemones), larval dispersal is the primary mechanism of dispersal to new habitats (Pechenik, 1999). The patterns and mechanisms of larval dispersal are difficult to study in the Arctic Ocean, where weather and climate conditions restrict sample collection to summer months. As a result, larval dispersal and the subsequent processes of settlement and recruitment in benthic invertebrates are poorly understood in the Arctic Ocean, despite their importance. Oceanographic moorings provide excellent platforms for studying larval dispersal, recruitment, and growth of organisms (Chava et al., 2021; Schiaparelli and Aliani, 2019). Instruments and floats on a mooring are deployed in the water column by design, so th

Global ocean lipidomes show a universal relationship between temperature and lipid unsaturation

Global-scale surveys of plankton communities using "omics" techniques have revolutionized our understanding of the ocean. Lipidomics has demonstrated the potential to add further essential insights on ocean ecosystem function but has yet to be applied on a global scale. We analyzed 930 lipid samples across the global ocean using a uniform high-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry analytical workflow, revealing previously unknown characteristics of ocean planktonic lipidomes. Focusing on 10 molecularly diverse glycerolipid classes, we identified 1151 distinct lipid species, finding that fatty acid unsaturation (i.e., number of carbon-carbon double bonds) is fundamentally constrained by temperature. We predict substantial declines in the essential fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid over the next century, which are likely to have serious deleterious effects on economically critical fisheries