Induced defences in marine and freshwater phytoplankton: a review

By Ellen van Donk, A. Ianora, Matthijs Vos. Hydrobiologia, 2011

262 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Many organisms have developed defences to avoid predation by species at higher trophic levels. The capability of primary producers to defend themselves against herbivores affects their own survival, can modulate the strength of trophic cascades and changes rates of competitive exclusion in aquatic communities. Algal species are highly flexible in their morphology, growth form, biochemical composition and production of toxic and deterrent compounds. Several of these variable traits in phytoplankton have been interpreted as defence mechanisms against grazing. Zooplankton feed with differing success on various phytoplankton species, depending primarily on size, shape, cell wall structure and the production of toxins and deterrents. Chemical cues associated with (i) mechanical damage, (ii) herbivore presence and (iii) grazing are the main factors triggering induced defences in both marine and freshwater phytoplankton, but most studies have failed to disentangle the exact mechanism(s) governing defence induction in any particular species. Induced defences in phytoplankton include changes in morphology (e.g. the formation of spines, colonies and thicker cell walls), biochemistry (such as production of toxins, repellents) and in life history characteristics (formation of cysts, reduced recruitment rate). Our categorization of inducible defences in terms of the responsible induction mechanism provides guidance for future work, as hardly any of the available studies on marine or freshwater plankton have performed all the treatments that are required to pinpoint the actual cue(s) for induction. We discuss the ecology of inducible defences in marine and freshwater phytoplankton with a special focus on the mechanisms of induction, the types of defences, their costs and benefits, and their consequences at the community level.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/892c4dcfdccee499c2a1942a07711b77192a8b98

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

1. Y. Chisti

In Oceanography

1. R. Barone
2. L. Naselli-Flores
3. B. Whitton
4. Y. Chisti
5. J. Padisák
6. Nico Salmaso

Citations in the corpus

• How do freshwater organisms cross the “dry ocean”? A review on passive dispersal and colonization processes with a special focus on temporary ponds (2015, background): “The seasonal cyclomorphosis in rotifers and cladocerans (Dodson, 1989) or the production of spines in phytoplankton (Van Donk et al., 2011) is commonly observed effect of inducible defences.”
• Introduction to the Cyanobacteria (2012, background): “Perhaps because of their larger size, there is considerably more known about induced morphological and chemical responses of eukaryotic algae than cyanobacteria (see Van Donk et al. 2011 ) .”
• Large-Scale Production of Algal Biomass: Raceway Ponds (2016, background): “Other contamination issues include infestations of predators feeding on algae (Turner and Tester 1997; Richmond 1990); viral infections (Van Etten et al. 1991; Van Etten and Meints 1999; Wommack and Colwell 2000); and contamination by unwanted microalgae (Richmond 1990), fungi, and bacteria.”