| 1. |
- Johannesson, Kerstin, 1955, et al.
(författare)
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Ten years of marine evolutionary biology - challenges and achievements of a multidisciplinary research initiative
- 2023
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Ingår i: Evolutionary Applications. - : Wiley. - 1752-4571. ; 16:2, s. 530-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology (CeMEB) at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was established in 2008 through a 10-year research grant of 8.7 m€ to a team of senior researchers. Today, CeMEB members have contributed >500 scientific publications, 30 PhD theses and have organised 75 meetings and courses, including 18 three-day meetings and four conferences. What are the footprints of CeMEB, and how will the centre continue to play a national and international role as an important node of marine evolutionary research? In this perspective arcticle we first look back over the 10 years of CeMEB activities and briefly survey some of the many achievements of CeMEB. We furthermore compare the initial goals, as formulated in the grant application, with what has been achieved, and discuss challenges and milestones along the way. Finally, we bring forward some general lessons that can be learnt from a research funding of this type, and we take also look ahead, discussing how CeMEB’s achievements and lessons can be used as a springboard to the future of marine evolutionary biology.
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| 2. |
- Abbas, Aamer, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Chemical images of marine bio-active compounds by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and transposed orthogonal partial least squares (T-OPLS)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Analytica Chimica Acta. - : Elsevier BV. - 0003-2670 .- 1873-4324. ; 737, s. 37-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with transposed Orthogonal Partial Least Squares (T-OPLS) was shown to produce chemical images of the natural antibacterial surface-active compound 1,1,3,3-tetrabromo-2-heptanone (TBH) on Bonnemaisonia hamifera. The use of gold colloids function-alised with the internal standard 4-mercapto-benzonitrile (MBN) made it possible to create images of the relative concentration of TBH over the surfaces. A gradient of TBH could be mapped over and in the close vicinity of the B. hamifera algal vesicles at the attomol/pixel level. T-OPLS produced a measure of the spectral correlation for each pixel of the hyperspectral images whilst not including spectral variation that was linearly independent of the target spectrum. In this paper we show the possibility to retrieve specific spectral information with a low magnitude in a complex matrix.
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| 3. |
- Araujo, R., et al.
(författare)
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TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS AT RANGE-EDGE AND CENTRAL LOCATIONS
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Phycology. - : Wiley. - 0022-3646. ; 51:4, s. 808-818
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The allocation of resources to different life-history traits should represent the best compromise in fitness investment for organisms in their local environment. When resources are limiting, the investment in a specific trait must carry a cost that is expressed in trade-offs with other traits. In this study, the relative investment in the fitness-related traits, growth, reproduction and defence were compared at central and range-edge locations, using the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum as a model system. Individual growth rates were similar at both sites, whereas edge populations showed a higher relative investment in reproduction (demonstrated by a higher reproductive allocation and extended reproductive periods) when compared to central populations that invested more in defence. These results show the capability of A. nodosum to differentially allocate resources for different traits under different habitat conditions, suggesting that reproduction and defence have different fitness values under the specific living conditions experienced at edge and central locations. However, ongoing climate change may threaten edge populations by increasing the selective pressure on specific traits, forcing these populations to lower the investment in other traits that are also potentially important for population fitness.
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| 4. |
- Barboza, F. R., et al.
(författare)
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Geographic variation in fitness-related traits of the bladderwrack Fucus vesiculosus along the Baltic Sea-North Sea salinity gradient
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 9:16, s. 9225-9238
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the course of the ongoing global intensification and diversification of human pressures, the study of variation patterns of biological traits along environmental gradients can provide relevant information on the performance of species under shifting conditions. The pronounced salinity gradient, co-occurrence of multiple stressors, and accelerated rates of change make the Baltic Sea and its transition to North Sea a suitable region for this type of study. Focusing on the bladderwrack Fucus vesiculosus, one of the main foundation species on hard-bottoms of the Baltic Sea, we analyzed the phenotypic variation among populations occurring along 2,000km of coasts subjected to salinities from 4 to >30 and a variety of other stressors. Morphological and biochemical traits, including palatability for grazers, were recorded at 20 stations along the Baltic Sea and four stations in the North Sea. We evaluated in a common modeling framework the relative contribution of multiple environmental drivers to the observed trait patterns. Salinity was the main and, in some cases, the only environmental driver of the geographic trait variation in F.vesiculosus. The decrease in salinity from North Sea to Baltic Sea stations was accompanied by a decline in thallus size, photosynthetic pigments, and energy storage compounds, and affected the interaction of the alga with herbivores and epibiota. For some traits, drivers that vary locally such as wave exposure, light availability or nutrient enrichment were also important. The strong genetic population structure in this macroalgae might play a role in the generation and maintenance of phenotypic patterns across geographic scales. In light of our results, the desalination process projected for the Baltic Sea could have detrimental impacts on F.vesiculosus in areas close to its tolerance limit, affecting ecosystem functions such as habitat formation, primary production, and food supply.
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| 5. |
- Baumgartner, Finn A., 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Acquired Phototrophy through Retention of Functional Chloroplasts Increases Growth Efficiency of the Sea Slug Elysia viridis
- 2015
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Ingår i: Plos One. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 10:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photosynthesis is a fundamental process sustaining heterotrophic organisms at all trophic levels. Some mixotrophs can retain functional chloroplasts from food (kleptoplasty), and it is hypothesized that carbon acquired through kleptoplasty may enhance trophic energy transfer through increased host growth efficiency. Sacoglossan sea slugs are the only known metazoans capable of kleptoplasty, but the relative fitness contributions of heterotrophy through grazing, and phototrophy via kleptoplasts, are not well understood. Fitness benefits (i.e. increased survival or growth) of kleptoplasty in sacoglossans are commonly studied in ecologically unrealistic conditions under extended periods of complete darkness and/or starvation. We compared the growth efficiency of the sacoglossan Elysia viridis with access to algal diets providing kleptoplasts of differing functionality under ecologically relevant light conditions. Individuals fed Codium fragile, which provide highly functional kleptoplasts, nearly doubled their growth efficiency under high compared to low light. In contrast, individuals fed Cladophora rupestris, which provided kleptoplasts of limited functionality, showed no difference in growth efficiency between light treatments. Slugs feeding on Codium, but not on Cladophora, showed higher relative electron transport rates (rETR) in high compared to low light. Furthermore, there were no differences in the consumption rates of the slugs between different light treatments, and only small differences in nutritional traits of algal diets, indicating that the increased growth efficiency of E. viridis feeding on Codium was due to retention of functional kleptoplasts. Our results show that functional kleptoplasts from Codium can provide sacoglossan sea slugs with fitness advantages through photosynthesis.
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| 6. |
- Baumgartner, Finn A., 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Individual Specialization to Non-Optimal Hosts in a Polyphagous Marine Invertebrate Herbivore
- 2014
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Ingår i: Plos One. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Factors determining the degree of dietary generalism versus specialism are central in ecology. Species that are generalists at the population level may in fact be composed of specialized individuals. The optimal diet theory assumes that individuals choose diets that maximize fitness, and individual specialization may occur if individuals' ability to locate, recognize, and handle different food types differ. We investigate if individuals of the marine herbivorous slug Elysia viridis, which co-occur at different densities on several green macroalgal species in the field, are specialized to different algal hosts. Individual slugs were collected from three original algal host species (Cladophora sericea, Cladophora rupestris and Codium fragile) in the field, and short-term habitat choice and consumption, as well as long-term growth (proxy for fitness), on four algal diet species (the original algal host species and Chaetomorpha melagonium) were studied in laboratory experiments. Nutritional (protein, nitrogen, and carbon content) and morphological (dry weight, and cell/utricle volume) algal traits were also measured to investigate if they correlated with the growth value of the different algal diets. E. viridis individuals tended to choose and consume algal species that were similar to their original algal host. Long-term growth of E. viridis, however, was mostly independent of original algal host, as all individuals reached a larger size on the non-host C. melagonium. E. viridis growth was positively correlated to algal cell/utricle volume but not to any of the other measured algal traits. Because E. viridis feeds by piercing individual algal cells, the results indicate that slugs may receive more cytoplasm, and thus more energy per unit time, on algal species with large cells/utricles. We conclude that E. viridis individuals are specialized on different hosts, but host choice in natural E. viridis populations is not determined by the energetic value of seaweed diets as predicted by the ODT.
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| 7. |
- Berdan, Emma L, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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A large chromosomal inversion shapes gene expression in seaweed flies (Coelopa frigida)
- 2021
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Ingår i: EVOLUTION LETTERS. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2056-3744. ; 5:6, s. 607-624
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inversions often underlie complex adaptive traits, but the genic targets inside them are largely unknown. Gene expression profiling provides a powerful way to link inversions with their phenotypic consequences. We examined the effects of the Cf-Inv(1) inversion in the seaweed fly Coelopa frigida on gene expression variation across sexes and life stages. Our analyses revealed that Cf-Inv(1) shapes global expression patterns, most likely via linked variation, but the extent of this effect is variable, with much stronger effects in adults than larvae. Furthermore, within adults, both common as well as sex-specific patterns were found. The vast majority of these differentially expressed genes mapped to Cf-Inv(1). However, genes that were differentially expressed in a single context (i.e., in males, females, or larvae) were more likely to be located outside of Cf-Inv(1). By combining our findings with genomic scans for environmentally associated SNPs, we were able to pinpoint candidate variants in the inversion that may underlie mechanistic pathways that determine phenotypes. Together the results of this study, combined with previous findings, support the notion that the polymorphic Cf-Inv(1) inversion in this species is a major factor shaping both coding and regulatory variation resulting in highly complex adaptive effects.
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| 8. |
- Berdan, Emma L, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic divergence and phenotypic plasticity contribute to variation in cuticular hydrocarbons in the seaweed fly Coelopa frigida
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 9:21, s. 12156-12170
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) form the boundary between insects and their environments and often act as essential cues for species, mate, and kin recognition. This complex polygenic trait can be highly variable both among and within species, but the causes of this variation, especially the genetic basis, are largely unknown. In this study, we investigated phenotypic and genetic variation of CHCs in the seaweed fly, Coelopa frigida, and found that composition was affected by both genetic (sex and population) and environmental (larval diet) factors. We subsequently conducted behavioral trials that show CHCs are likely used as a sexual signal. We identified general shifts in CHC chemistry as well as individual compounds and found that the methylated compounds, mean chain length, proportion of alkenes, and normalized total CHCs differed between sexes and populations. We combined these data with whole genome resequencing data to examine the genetic underpinnings of these differences. We identified 11 genes related to CHC synthesis and found population-level outlier SNPs in 5 that are concordant with phenotypic differences. Together these results reveal that the CHC composition of C. frigida is dynamic, strongly affected by the larval environment, and likely under natural and sexual selection.
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| 9. |
- Bergkvist, Johanna, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Induction of toxin production in dinoflagellates: the grazer makes a difference
- 2008
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Ingår i: Oecologia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. ; 156:1, s. 147-154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum has previously been shown to produce paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) in response to waterborne cues from the copepod Acartia tonsa. In order to investigate if grazer-induced toxin production is a general or grazer-specific response of A. minutum to calanoid copepods, we exposed two strains of A. minutum to waterborne cues from three other species of calanoid copepods, Acartia clausi, Centropages typicus and Pseudocalanus sp. Both A. minutum strains responded to waterborne cues from Centropages and Acartia with significantly increased cell-specific toxicity. Waterborne cues from Centropages caused the strongest response in the A. minutum cells, with 5 to > 20 times higher toxin concentrations compared to controls. In contrast, neither of the A. minutum strains responded with significantly increased toxicity to waterborne cues from Pseudocalanus. The absolute increase in PST content was proportional to the intrinsic toxicity of the different A. minutum strains that were used. The results show that grazer-induced PST production is a grazer-specific response in A. minutum, and its potential ecological importance will thus depend on the composition of the zooplankton community, as well as the intrinsic toxin-producing properties of the A. minutum population.
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| 10. |
- Brock, Elisabet, 1949, et al.
(författare)
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Chemical inhibition of barnacle larval settlement by the brown alga Fucus vesiculosus
- 2007
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Ingår i: Marine Ecology-Progress Series. - 0171-8630. ; 337, s. 165-174
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The possible importance of larval settlement inhibition by Fucus vesiculosus in explaining the low abundance of the barnacle Balanus improvisus on algal fronds compared to adjacent rock was investigated by a combination of field and laboratory studies. A field survey showed that the abundance of adult barnacles was significantly lower on F vesiculosus than on rocks and settlement preference experiments strongly suggested that settlement avoidance for algal fronds during the natural settlement season was chemically mediated. By using a multi-step approach, whereby both exuded and surface associated metabolites were tested on larval settlement, we further investigated the possible existence of chemical antifouling processes in E vesiculosus. For exuded metabolites, seawater was conditioned for 1 and 3 h with both submerged and desiccated algae, Surface extracts at natural concentrations and seawater conditioned with submerged algae had no significant effect on larval settlement, although there was a tendency for reduced settlement in the 3 h samples. Seawater conditioned with desiccated algae consistently inhibited settlement and chemical analyses showed that the mean phlorotannin level in the water was 31.5 mu g ml(-1), which is ca. 30x higher than concentrations previously shown to inhibit barnacle settlement. Seawater conditioned with submerged algae had a mean phlorotannin content of 0.85 mu g ml(-1) and in samples conditioned for 3 h there was a strong and significant negative relationship between phlorotannin concentration and larval settlement, suggesting that the phlorotannin concentration varied around a level inhibitory to barnacle settlement. Altogether, the results from the laboratory experiments strongly suggested that the low larval preference for algae was caused by exudation of waterborne metabolites, primarily phlorotannins. Finally, field measurements showed that phlorotannins exuded from F. vesiculosus can under natural conditions reach concentrations inhibitory to settlement of barnacle larvae.
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