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Downs KN, Kelly PT, Ascanio A, Vanni MJ. Ontogenetic variation in the ecological stoichiometry of 10 fish species during early development. Ecology 2023; 104:e4176. [PMID: 37782823 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
The chemical composition and stoichiometry of vertebrate bodies changes greatly during ontogeny as phosphorus-rich bones form, but we know little about the variation among species during early development. Such variation is important because element ratios in animal bodies influence which element limits growth and how animals contribute to nutrient cycling. We quantified ontogenetic variation from embryos through 2-3 months of age in 10 species of fish in six different families, ranging in adult size from 73 to 720 mm in length. We measured whole-body concentrations (percentage of dry mass) and ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) as fish developed. We also quantified whole-body concentrations of calcium (Ca), because Ca should reflect bone development, and RNA, which can be a major pool of body P. To account for interspecific differences in adult size, we also examined how trends changed with relative size, defined as body length divided by adult length. Ontogenetic changes in body composition and ratios were relatively similar among species and were more similar when expressed as a function of relative size compared to age. Body P increased rapidly in all species (likely because of bone development) from embryos until individuals were ~5%-8% of adult size. Body N also increased, while body C, C:N, C:P, and N:P all decreased over this period. Body Ca increased with development but was more variable among species. Body RNA was low in embryos, increased rapidly in young larvae, then decreased as fish reached 5%-8% of adult size. After fish were about 5%-8% of adult size, changes in body composition were relatively slight for all elements and ratios. These results reveal a consistency in the dynamics of body stoichiometry during early ontogeny, presumably because of similar constraints on the allocation of elements to bones and other body pools. Because most changes occur when individuals are <1 month old (<10% of adult size for that species), early ontogenetic variation in body stoichiometry may be especially important for growth limitation of individuals and ecosystem-level nutrient cycling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelsea N Downs
- Department of Biology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA
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Feng M, Cheng H, Zhang P, Wang K, Wang T, Zhang H, Wang H, Zhou L, Xu J, Zhang M. Stoichiometric stability of aquatic organisms increases with trophic level under warming and eutrophication. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 858:160106. [PMID: 36370785 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The balance of stoichiometric traits of organisms is crucial for nutrient cycling and energy flow in ecosystems. However, the impacts of different drivers on stoichiometric (carbon, C; nitrogen, N; and phosphorus, P) variations of organisms have not been well addressed. In order to understand how stoichiometric traits vary across trophic levels under different environmental stressors, we performed a mesocosm experiment to explore the impacts of warming (including +3 °C consistent warming above ambient and heat waves ranging from 0 to 6 °C), eutrophication, herbicide and their interactions on stoichiometric traits of organisms at different trophic levels, which was quantified by stable nitrogen isotopes. Results showed that herbicide treatment had no significant impacts on all stochiometric traits, while warming and eutrophication significantly affected the stoichiometric traits of organisms at lower trophic levels. Eutrophication increased nutrient contents and decreased C: nutrient ratios in primary producers, while the response of N:P ratios depended on the taxonomic group. The contribution of temperature treatments to stoichiometric variation was less than that of eutrophication. Heat waves counteracted the impacts of eutrophication, which was different from the effects of continuous warming, indicating that eutrophication impacts on organism stoichiometric traits depended on climate scenarios. Compared to environmental drivers, taxonomic group was the dominant driver that determined the variations of stoichiometric traits. Furthermore, the stoichiometric stability of organisms was strongly positively correlated with their trophic levels. Our results demonstrate that warming and eutrophication might substantially alter the stoichiometric traits of lower trophic levels, thus impairing the nutrient transfer to higher trophic level, which might further change the structure of food webs and functions of the ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingjun Feng
- College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Engineering Research Center of Green development for Conventional Aquatic Biological Industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Ministry of Education, Hubei Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Pond Aquaculture, Wuhan, China
| | - Haowu Cheng
- College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Engineering Research Center of Green development for Conventional Aquatic Biological Industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Ministry of Education, Hubei Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Pond Aquaculture, Wuhan, China
| | - Peiyu Zhang
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
| | - Kang Wang
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Tao Wang
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Huan Zhang
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Huan Wang
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Libin Zhou
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Jun Xu
- Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Min Zhang
- College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Engineering Research Center of Green development for Conventional Aquatic Biological Industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Ministry of Education, Hubei Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Pond Aquaculture, Wuhan, China.
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Allgeier JE, Weeks BC, Munsterman KS, Wale N, Wenger SJ, Parravicini V, Schiettekatte NMD, Villéger S, Burkepile DE. Phylogenetic conservatism drives nutrient dynamics of coral reef fishes. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5432. [PMID: 34521825 PMCID: PMC8440548 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25528-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The relative importance of evolutionary history and ecology for traits that drive ecosystem processes is poorly understood. Consumers are essential drivers of nutrient cycling on coral reefs, and thus ecosystem productivity. We use nine consumer "chemical traits" associated with nutrient cycling, collected from 1,572 individual coral reef fishes (178 species spanning 41 families) in two biogeographic regions, the Caribbean and Polynesia, to quantify the relative importance of phylogenetic history and ecological context as drivers of chemical trait variation on coral reefs. We find: (1) phylogenetic relatedness is the best predictor of all chemical traits, substantially outweighing the importance of ecological factors thought to be key drivers of these traits, (2) phylogenetic conservatism in chemical traits is greater in the Caribbean than Polynesia, where our data suggests that ecological forces have a greater influence on chemical trait variation, and (3) differences in chemical traits between regions can be explained by differences in nutrient limitation associated with the geologic context of our study locations. Our study provides multiple lines of evidence that phylogeny is a critical determinant of contemporary nutrient dynamics on coral reefs. More broadly our findings highlight the utility of evolutionary history to improve prediction in ecosystem ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob E Allgeier
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | - Brian C Weeks
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Katrina S Munsterman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Nina Wale
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Department of Integrative Biology & Ecology Evolution and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Seth J Wenger
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Valeriano Parravicini
- PSL Université Paris: EPHE-UPVD-CNRS, USR 3278 CRIOBE, Université de Perpignan, Perpignan, France.,Laboratoire d'Excellence "CORAIL", Perpignan, France
| | - Nina M D Schiettekatte
- PSL Université Paris: EPHE-UPVD-CNRS, USR 3278 CRIOBE, Université de Perpignan, Perpignan, France.,Laboratoire d'Excellence "CORAIL", Perpignan, France
| | - Sébastien Villéger
- MARBEC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Deron E Burkepile
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.,Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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Evangelista C, Diaz Pauli B, Vøllestad LA, Edeline E. Stoichiometric consequences of size-selective mortality: An experimental test using the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 724:138193. [PMID: 32247139 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2019] [Revised: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The determinants of intraspecific stoichiometric variation remain difficult to elucidate due to their multiple origins (e.g. genetic vs. environmental) and potential interactive effects. We evaluated whether two size-selected lines of medaka (Oryzias latipes) with contrasted life-history strategies (small- and large-breeder lines with slow growth and early maturity vs. fast growth and late maturity) differed in their organismal stoichiometry (percentage and ratios of carbon [C], nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P]) in a mesocosm experiment. We also tested how size-selection interacted with environmental conditions (i.e. two levels of fish density and light intensity), body condition and sex. Results showed that large-breeder fish were significantly N-enriched compared to small-breeders, while the two size-selected lines did not differ in body P composition. Size-selection interacted with density - high density only affected small-breeders leading to decreasing %C and C: N - and with sex - large-breeder females had higher %C and C:N values than large-breeder males. Finally, C:P and N:P ratios increased with body condition due to decreasing %P. Overall, our results show that the ecological consequences of size-selective mortality extend to organismal stoichiometry and may, from there, change nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Evangelista
- Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
| | - Beatriz Diaz Pauli
- Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Leif Asbjørn Vøllestad
- Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Eric Edeline
- Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Diderot, UPEC, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (iEES-Paris), F-75252 Paris, France.; ESE, Ecology and Ecosystem Health, INRAE, Agrocampus-Ouest, Rennes, France
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Moody EK, Carson EW, Corman JR, Espinosa-Pérez H, Ramos J, Sabo JL, Elser JJ. Consumption explains intraspecific variation in nutrient recycling stoichiometry in a desert fish. Ecology 2018; 99:1552-1561. [PMID: 29882955 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2018] [Revised: 03/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Consumer-driven nutrient recycling can have substantial effects on primary production and patterns of nutrient limitation in aquatic ecosystems by altering the rates as well as the relative supplies of the key nutrients nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). While variation in nutrient recycling stoichiometry has been well-studied among species, the mechanisms that explain intraspecific variation in recycling N:P are not well-understood. We examined the relative importance of potential drivers of variation in nutrient recycling by the fish Gambusia marshi among aquatic habitats in the Cuatro Ciénegas basin of Coahuila, Mexico. There, G. marshi inhabits warm thermal springs with high predation pressure as well as cooler, surface runoff-fed systems with low predation pressure. We hypothesized that variation in food consumption among these habitats would drive intraspecific differences in excretion rates and N:P ratios. Stoichiometric models predicted that temperature alone should not cause substantial variation in excretion N:P, but that further reducing consumption rates should substantially increase excretion N:P. We performed temperature and diet ration manipulation experiments in the laboratory and found strong support for model predictions. We then tested these predictions in the field by measuring nutrient recycling rates and ratios as well as body stoichiometry of fish from nine sites that vary in temperature and predation pressure. Fish from warm, high-predation sites excreted nutrients at a lower N:P ratio than fish from cool, low-predation sites, consistent with the hypothesis that reduced consumption under reduced predation pressure had stronger consequences for P retention and excretion among populations than did variation in body stoichiometry. These results highlight the utility of stoichiometric models for predicting variation in consumer-driven nutrient recycling within a phenotypically variable species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric K Moody
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
| | - Evan W Carson
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bay-Delta Fish and Wildlife Office, Sacramento, California, 95814, USA
| | - Jessica R Corman
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
| | - Hector Espinosa-Pérez
- Colecciόn Nacional de Peces, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autόnoma de México, México D.F, México
| | - Jorge Ramos
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
| | - John L Sabo
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
| | - James J Elser
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA.,Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Polson, Montana, 59860, USA
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Jeyasingh PD, Goos JM, Thompson SK, Godwin CM, Cotner JB. Ecological Stoichiometry beyond Redfield: An Ionomic Perspective on Elemental Homeostasis. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:722. [PMID: 28487686 PMCID: PMC5403914 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2017] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Elemental homeostasis has been largely characterized using three important elements that were part of the Redfield ratio (i.e., carbon: nitrogen: phosphorus). These efforts have revealed substantial diversity in homeostasis among taxonomic groups and even within populations. Understanding the evolutionary basis, and ecological consequences of such diversity is a central challenge. Here, we propose that a more complete understanding of homeostasis necessitates the consideration of other elements beyond C, N, and P. Specifically, we posit that physiological complexity underlying maintenance of elemental homeostasis along a single elemental axis impacts processing of other elements, thus altering elemental homeostasis along other axes. Indeed, transcriptomic studies in a wide variety of organisms have found that individuals differentially express significant proportions of the genome in response to variability in supply stoichiometry in order to maintain varying levels of homeostasis. We review the literature from the emergent field of ionomics that has established the consequences of such physiological trade-offs on the content of the entire suite of elements in an individual. Further, we present experimental data on bacteria exhibiting divergent phosphorus homeostasis phenotypes demonstrating the fundamental interconnectedness among elemental quotas. These observations suggest that physiological adjustments can lead to unexpected patterns in biomass stoichiometry, such as correlated changes among suites of non-limiting microelements in response to limitation by macroelements. Including the entire suite of elements that comprise biomass will foster improved quantitative understanding of the links between chemical cycles and the physiology of organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Punidan D Jeyasingh
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State UniversityStillwater, OK, USA
| | - Jared M Goos
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at ArlingtonArlington, TX, USA
| | - Seth K Thompson
- Water Resources Science Program, University of MinnesotaSt. Paul, MN, USA
| | - Casey M Godwin
- School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI, USA
| | - James B Cotner
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of MinnesotaSt. Paul, MN, USA
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