Metabolic responses of photosynthetic sea slugs to a changing environment
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biosphere Interactions, Climate Change Biology, Ecology, Marine Biology, Zoology
- Keywords
- Sacoglossa, Elysia stylifera, Respirometry, Climate change, Kleptoplasty, French Polynesia
- Copyright
- © 2016 Van Wert
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. Metabolic responses of photosynthetic sea slugs to a changing environment. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2650v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2650v1
Abstract
Sacoglossan sea slugs have complex interactions with their environment. They are well known for their ability to sequester stolen chloroplasts and utilize them for photoautotrophic CO2 fixation, yet the dependence on this is not clear in most species. Elysia stylifera is an Indo-Pacific tropical sacoglossan that selectively consumes Halimeda macroalgae and retains its chloroplasts for two weeks. This association is prone to change as their habitats are subjected to increased ocean warmth and acidification, altering algal distribution and decreasing photosynthetic efficiency. This study aimed to investigate the metabolic response of E. stylifera to projected environmental changes. Elysia stylifera were subjected to ambient (28°C) or warm (30°C) conditions and five days of food deprivation. On the first and fifth day of starvation, the respiration rates of individuals were measured in the dark to quantify slug response, as well as in the light to characterize their response when given the ability to photosynthesize. Dark treatments showed that slugs deprived of food undergo metabolic suppression in current conditions, but may not undergo suppression in projected warm conditions. The difference between oxygen consumption in dark and light treated slugs demonstrated photosynthesis occurred, but that it was reduced under all stressors. This study reveals that forecasted ocean warming may not be favorable for short-term photosynthetic sea slugs because of its impact on both the sea slugs and their ingested kleptoplasts. It also presents new uncertainties about the benefits of kleptoplasty and how it may transform with climate change.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
Supplemental Information
Respirometry and Statistics R Code
Code constructed for finding average respiration rate in specified time scales, producing graphs, and performing statistics.
30°C Trial 1 Day 1
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks.
30°C Trial 1 Day 5
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks. The individuals are repeated from the same treatment and trial on Day 1.
30°C Trial 2 Day 1
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks.
30°C Trial 2 Day 5
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks. The individuals are repeated from the same treatment and trial on Day 1.
30°C Trial 3 Day 1
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks.
30°C Trial 3 Day 5
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks. The individuals are repeated from the same treatment and trial on Day 1. Due to time constraints and equipment failure, this dataset is four days after starvation, but the results are indicative of day 5 of starvation.
28°C Trial 1 Day 1
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks.
28°C Trial 1 Day 5
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks. The individuals are repeated from the same treatment and trial on Day 1.
28°C Trial 2 Day 1
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks.
28°C Trial 2 Day 5
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks. The individuals are repeated from the same treatment and trial on Day 1.
28°C Trial 3 Day 1
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks.
28°C Trial 3 Day 5
Dataset obtained from respirometer. Each well indicates a different individual, with A1 and B1 as blanks. The individuals are repeated from the same treatment and trial on Day 1.