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Chemical defenses, nutritional quality, and structural components in three sponge species: Ircinia felix, I. campana, and Aplysina fulva

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Abstract

Allocating chemical defenses to regions or tissues most at risk for predatory attack may provide protection while simultaneously minimizing associated metabolic costs. Chemical defense allocation patterns were investigated in the aspiculate sponges Ircinia felix, I. campana, and Aplysina fulva collected between July 2005 and April 2006 from J Reef off the coast of Georgia, U.S.A. It was predicted that chemical defenses would be (1) higher in the outermost 2 mm layer of the sponge; (2) positively correlated with tissue nutritional quality; and (3) correlated with structural components such as spongin fibers. Whereas defensive chemicals were concentrated in the outer 2 mm of A. fulva, the Ircinia species had higher concentrations in deeper tissue layers. Furthermore, no significant positive or negative correlation between chemical defenses and nutritional quality or levels of structural components was observed in these sponges. Overall, these results do not support the prediction that predation pressure by fish and large mobile invertebrates significantly impacts chemical defense allocation in these sponges.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA for providing boats and other logistical support. In particular, we are grateful to Peter Fischel, Keith Golden, and Scott Fowler. L. Bates, H. Harbin, S. Mock, R. Ruzicka, L. Sutton, L. Wagner, and the crew of the NOAA ship NANCY FOSTER provided valuable field assistance. Funding was provided by NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA, the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Award # NA030AR4300088), and the Professional Development and Academic Excellence funds at Georgia Southern University. Collections at Gray’s Reef were made under permit numbers GRNMS-2003-002 and GRNMS 2005-002.

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  1. University of Alabama at Birmingham, 103 Campbell Hall, 1300 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

    Christopher J. Freeman

  2. Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 8042, Statesboro, GA, 30460-8042, USA

    Daniel F. Gleason

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  1. Christopher J. Freeman
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Correspondence to Christopher J. Freeman.

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Communicated by J. P. Grassle.

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Freeman, C.J., Gleason, D.F. Chemical defenses, nutritional quality, and structural components in three sponge species: Ircinia felix, I. campana, and Aplysina fulva . Mar Biol 157, 1083–1093 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1389-5

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