TY - JOUR
T1 - Metabolomics Unravels Grazing Interactions under Nutrient Enrichment from Aquaculture
AU - Escobar-Sierra, Camilo
AU - De kock, Willemien
AU - Hasler-Sheetal, Harald
AU - Holmer, Marianne
AU - Chatzigeorgiou, Giorgos
AU - Tsapakis, Manolis
AU - Apostolaki, Eugenia T.
N1 - © 2022 by the authors
W. de Koch was not affiliated to SAMS at the time of this publication.
PY - 2022/12/27
Y1 - 2022/12/27
N2 - Our goal was to understand the mechanisms behind the impact of nutrient enrichment at intermediate distances from aquaculture on the interactions of a subtidal macroalgae community with its main grazer, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. We assessed the diversity and cover of the macroalgal community, the abundance and biometrics of the sea urchins, the carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic compositions, and their metabolome in two stations, at an intermediate distance (station A) and away (station B) from a fish cage facility in the Aegean Sea (Greece), during the warm and cold seasons. The nutrient input at station A favored a shift to a macroalgal assemblage dominated by turf-forming species, depleted of native-erected species and with a higher abundance of invasive algae. A stable isotope analysis showed fish-farm-associated nitrogen enrichment of the macroalgae and trophic transfer to P. lividus. A decrease in metabolites related to grazing, reproduction, and energy reserves was found in P. lividus at station A. Furthermore, the metabolomic analysis was able to pinpoint stress in P. lividus at an intermediate distance from aquaculture. The chosen combination of traditional ecology with omics technology could be used to uncover not only the sublethal effects of nutrient loading but also the pathways for species interactions
AB - Our goal was to understand the mechanisms behind the impact of nutrient enrichment at intermediate distances from aquaculture on the interactions of a subtidal macroalgae community with its main grazer, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. We assessed the diversity and cover of the macroalgal community, the abundance and biometrics of the sea urchins, the carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic compositions, and their metabolome in two stations, at an intermediate distance (station A) and away (station B) from a fish cage facility in the Aegean Sea (Greece), during the warm and cold seasons. The nutrient input at station A favored a shift to a macroalgal assemblage dominated by turf-forming species, depleted of native-erected species and with a higher abundance of invasive algae. A stable isotope analysis showed fish-farm-associated nitrogen enrichment of the macroalgae and trophic transfer to P. lividus. A decrease in metabolites related to grazing, reproduction, and energy reserves was found in P. lividus at station A. Furthermore, the metabolomic analysis was able to pinpoint stress in P. lividus at an intermediate distance from aquaculture. The chosen combination of traditional ecology with omics technology could be used to uncover not only the sublethal effects of nutrient loading but also the pathways for species interactions
KW - omics
KW - herbivory
KW - Stypopodium schimperi
KW - Mediterranean sea
KW - Hard-bottom assemblage
KW - macroalgae
KW - sea urchin
KW - Paracentrotus lividus
U2 - 10.3390/d15010031
DO - 10.3390/d15010031
M3 - Article
SN - 1424-2818
VL - 15
JO - Diversity
JF - Diversity
IS - 1
ER -