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Persistence, morphology, and nutritional state of a gastropod hosted bacterial symbiosis in different levels of hydothermal vent flux
Citation
Bates, AE, Persistence, morphology, and nutritional state of a gastropod hosted bacterial symbiosis in different levels of hydothermal vent flux, Marine Biology: International Journal on Life in Oceans and Coastal Waters, 152, (Monthly) pp. 557-568. ISSN 0025-3162 (2007) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2007 Springer-Verlag
DOI: doi:10.1007/s00227-007-0709-x
Abstract
The limpet, Lepetodrilus fucensis McLean, is
found in prominent stacks around hydrothermal vents on
the Juan de Fuca Ridge. L. fucensis hosts a Wlamentous episymbiont
on its gill lamellae that may be ingested directly
by the gill epithelium. To assess the persistence of this
symbiosis I used microscopy to examine the gills of L. fucensis
from sites representing its geographic range and
diVerent habitats. The symbiosis is present on all the specimens
examined in this study, including both sexes and a
range of juvenile and adult sizes. Next, I aimed to determine
if patterns in bacterial abundance, host condition, and
gill morphology support the hypotheses that the bacteria
are chemoautotrophic and provide limpets with a food
resource. To do so, I compared specimens from high and
low Xux locations at multiple vents. My results support the
above hypotheses: (1) gill bacteria are signiWcantly less
abundant in low Xux where the concentrations of reduced
chemicals (for chemoautotrophy) are negligible, (2) low
Xux specimens have remarkably poor tissue condition, and
(3) the lamellae of high Xux limpets have greater surface
area: the blood space and bacteria-hosting epithelium are
deeper and have more folds than low Xux lamellae, modiWcations
that support higher symbiont abundances. I next
asked if the morphology of the lamellae could change. To
test this, I moved high Xux limpets away from a vent and
after 1 year the lamellar depth and shape of the transplanted
specimens resembled low Xux gills. Last, I was interested
in whether bacterial digestion by the gill epithelium is a
signiWcant feeding mechanism. As bacteria-like cells are
rarely apparent in lysosomes of the gill epithelium, I predicted
that lysosome number would be unrelated to bacterial
abundance. My data support this prediction, suggesting
that digestion of bacteria by the gill epithelium probably
contributes only minimally to the limpet’s nutrition. Overall,
the persistence and morphology of the L. fucensis gill
symbiosis relates to the intensity of vent Xux and indicates
that specimens from a variety of habitats may be necessary
to characterize the morphological variability of gill-hosted
symbioses in other molluscs.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Ecological physiology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Marine systems and management |
Objective Field: | Marine biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Bates, AE (Dr Amanda Bates) |
ID Code: | 76499 |
Year Published: | 2007 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 17 |
Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
Deposited On: | 2012-03-07 |
Last Modified: | 2012-05-24 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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