Trophic Ecology of a Freshwater Sponge (Spongilla Lacustris) Revealed by Stable Isotope Analysis
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257569577 Trophic ecology of a freshwater sponge (Spongilla lacustris) revealed by stable isotope analysis Article in Hydrobiologia · June 2013 DOI: 10.1007/s10750-013-1452-6 CITATIONS READS 7 238 2 authors, including: James Skelton University of Florida 41 PUBLICATIONS 258 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Metacommunity Ecology of Symbiosis View project Asia Ambrosia Beetle Fungi View project All content following this page was uploaded by James Skelton on 16 October 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Trophic ecology of a freshwater sponge (Spongilla lacustris) revealed by stable isotope analysis James Skelton & Mac Strand Hydrobiologia The International Journal of Aquatic Sciences ISSN 0018-8158 Volume 709 Number 1 Hydrobiologia (2013) 709:227-235 DOI 10.1007/s10750-013-1452-6 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science +Business Media Dordrecht. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Hydrobiologia (2013) 709:227–235 DOI 10.1007/s10750-013-1452-6 PRIMARY RESEARCH PAPER Trophic ecology of a freshwater sponge (Spongilla lacustris) revealed by stable isotope analysis James Skelton • Mac Strand Received: 11 March 2012 / Revised: 20 December 2012 / Accepted: 13 January 2013 / Published online: 25 January 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract The vital roles that sponges play in marine spongillafly Climacia areolaris and the sponge-eating habitats are well-known. However, sponges inhabiting caddisfly Ceraclea resurgens suggesting that the freshwaters have been largely ignored despite having symbiosis between freshwater sponges and algae is widespread distributions and often high local abun- important to sponge predator trophic ecology. Our dances. We used natural abundance stable isotope results help define the role of sponges in freshwater signatures of carbon and nitrogen (d13C and d15N) to ecosystems and shed new light on the evolution and infer the primary food source of the cosmopolitan ecological consequences of a complex tri-trophic freshwater sponge Spongilla lacustris. Our results symbiosis involving freshwater sponges, zoochlorel- suggest that S. lacustris feed largely on pelagic lae, and spongivorous insects. resources and may therefore link pelagic and benthic food webs. A facultative association between Keywords Food webs Á Energy flow Á Symbiosis Á S. lacustris and endosymbiotic green algae caused Zoochlorellae Á Sisyridae Á Ceraclea Á Sponge S. lacustris to have significantly depleted carbon and predators nitrogen signatures that may reflect carbon and nitrogen exchange between sponges and their symbi- otic algae. Isotopic data from specialist sponge Introduction consumers demonstrated that sponges hosting zoo- chlorellae were the major component of the diet of the Sponges (Porifera) are a diverse and inextricable component of the colorful and structurally complex aquascapes of coral reefs and play vital roles in energy Handling editor: David J. Hoeinghaus flow, nutrient cycling, and community composition (Diaz & Ru¨tzler, 2001;Ru¨tzler, 2004; Becerro, 2008). & J. Skelton ( ) Á M. Strand Although most sponges are restricted to marine Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855, USA habitats, more than 200 species occur in freshwater e-mail: [email protected] (Reiswig et al., 2010). Sponges live in lakes, ponds, M. Strand and streams world-wide (Reiswig et al., 2010) and e-mail: [email protected] they dominate some benthic communities (Jewell, 1936; Frost et al., 1982; Bailey et al., 1995). For Present Address: example, sponges cover 44% of the benthos of the J. Skelton Department of Biological Science, Virginia Tech largest lake in the world (Lake Baikal, Russia; Pile University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA et al., 1997) and contribute nearly half of the total 123 Author's personal copy 228 Hydrobiologia (2013) 709:227–235 benthic secondary production in parts of the River (Diptera:Chironomidae). The rarity of spongivory Thames, England (Mann et al., 1972). Despite their among benthic invertebrates is presumably the result widespread distribution, often high local abundance, of highly effective chemical and physical sponge and potentially substantial contribution to ecosystem defenses (Sata et al., 2002; Reiswig et al., 2010). dynamics, sponges have been largely overlooked by Consequently, spongivorous taxa display a range of ecologists studying freshwater systems. morphological and behavioral adaptations for con- In marine systems, sponges link benthic and pelagic suming freshwater sponges (Brown, 1952; Resh, 1976, food webs by filtering pelagically fixed carbon from Roque, 2004; b). For example, spongivorous caddis- the water column and converting it to biomass in the flies sequester the physical defenses of their prey by benthos (Lesser, 2006; Pile, 2006). Sponges in fresh- reinforcing their silken cases with sponge spicules water systems likely play a similar role, but this has (Fig. 1). not yet been evaluated. Although the types and sizes of Like marine sponges, many freshwater sponges particles that freshwater sponges are capable of benefit from a mixotrophic association with endocel- ingesting are well-known (Frost, 1980, Reiswig lular algae and can thus act as both primary producers et al., 1981, 2010), their diets in situ are virtually and consumers (Reiswig et al., 2010). In fact, for some unknown (Reiswig et al., 2010). The many gaps that freshwater sponges algae constitute more biomass remain in our knowledge, at least in part, stem from than animal tissues (Frost & Elias, 1985). Although the inherit difficulties of studying these organisms marine sponges host many types of photosymbionts, under natural conditions. In situ observations of freshwater sponges typically host only green algae trophic interactions are made impractical by the (zoochlorellae; but see Frost, 1997 for an exception). microscopic size of their food and an anatomical The presence of zoochlorellae gives freshwater preclusion of traditional gut content analyses. Stable sponges a distinctive green color (referred to hereafter isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen offer a as ‘‘green sponges’’), whereas those without algal powerful tool for overcoming these difficulties and symbionts are typically white, off-white, or yellow gaining insight to sponge trophic interactions. In this (referred to hereafter as ‘‘white sponges’’). Sponges study, we used carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures that are green with zoochlorellae will quickly turn to assess the relative contributions of pelagic and white when shaded (Frost & Williamson, 1980)as benthic resources to the diet of the cosmopolitan zoochlorellae are digested by their host (Williamson, freshwater sponge, Spongilla lacustris Linnaeus. We 1979). Therefore, many populations of freshwater hypothesized that, like marine sponges, S. lacustris sponges contain both green and white individuals as a links pelagic and benthic communities by feeding extensively on pelagic phytoplankton. To assess our hypothesis, we compared the isotopic signatures of S. lacustris to pelagic and benthic baseline indicator species with well-known trophic ecology. We pre- dicted that heterotrophic S. lacustris have isotopic signatures similar to primary consumers that feed on pelagic phytoplankton. Freshwater sponges are inhabited by a wide variety of aquatic organisms including bacteria, algae, pro- tists, hydrozoans, nematodes, rotifers, insects, and crustaceans (Roback, 1968; Reiswig, 1971; Matteson & Jacobi, 1980; Gaino et al., 2004; Parfenova et al., 2008). The diverse group of organisms commonly associated with freshwater sponges includes a rela- tively small number of highly specialized sponge Fig. 1 Case of the sponge-eating caddisfly Ceraclea resurgens predators including caddisflies of the genus Ceraclea collected from Iron River near Big Bay, MI, viewed by light microscope. Case is composed of silk that has been reinforced (Trichoptera: Leptoceridae), all members of Sisyridae with megasclere spicules sequestered from Spongilla lacustris. (Neuroptera), and several chironomid midge species Scale bar 150 lm 123 Author's personal copy Hydrobiologia (2013) 709:227–235 229 result of spatial and/or temporal variation in light of granitic boulders and bedrock which were largely availability. covered by green S. lacustris during peak sponge The presence of zoochlorellae may have major abundance (August–October). The underside of boul- implications for specialist sponge predators. Results ders and cobbles, and other shaded areas were often from marine systems have demonstrated that the encased in yellowish-white, aposymbiotic sponges. endosymbiotic algae of sponges contribute largely to Net-spinning