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Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

Suspension feeders play pivotal roles in the nutrient cycling of almost all aquatic ecosystems. Since sufficiently large differences in the filter mesh size (FMS) can lead to different food web positions, the inter- and intraspecific variability of this trait might be of community-level importance....

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Autor principal: Borza, Péter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8061577/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33976975
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11245
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author Borza, Péter
author_facet Borza, Péter
author_sort Borza, Péter
collection PubMed
description Suspension feeders play pivotal roles in the nutrient cycling of almost all aquatic ecosystems. Since sufficiently large differences in the filter mesh size (FMS) can lead to different food web positions, the inter- and intraspecific variability of this trait might be of community-level importance. The aim of this study was to quantify the range of FMS variation within the three invasive Ponto-Caspian Chelicorophium species based on a large material representing various conditions (1,224 specimens from 40 samples across Central Europe), characterize the components of variation within populations, identify the main factors determining intraspecific differences, and reveal how intraspecific variation affects the FMS overlaps among species. The FMS of the most widespread invader, C. curvispinum, varied within the broadest range (between 2.34–8.28 μm, compared to 2.51–5.97 μm in C. robustum and 1.08–3.23 μm in C. sowinskyi); nevertheless, the contribution of intraspecific plasticity to the invasion success of the species is not evident based on the present study. The within-individual variability of FMS increased with the individual mean of the trait and decreased with body size; however, it showed little differences among samples. The among-individual variation within samples could be partitioned into components related to body size (ontogenetic niche shift/differences among cohorts) and sex (ecological sexual dimorphism) as well as a seemingly random component (individual specialization), varying widely in extent and relative contributions. The FMS of C. curvispinum was significantly larger in the presence of C. sowinskyi than in allopatry, likely reflecting character displacement; however, it did not show further increase when C. robustum was also present. Similar differences could not be observed in C. sowinskyi. The FMS ranges of C. curvispinum and C. robustum never overlapped with that of C. sowinskyi in co-occurrence despite the considerable intraspecific differences among sites, suggesting that their interaction can be seen as a clear case of niche differentiation by food particle size. On the contrary, the strong overlaps observed between C. curvispinum and C. robustum indicate that other factors might play the primary role in their coexistence. The studied species appear to be suitable model organisms for identifying the drivers and mechanisms of FMS variability.
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spelling pubmed-80615772021-05-10 Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda) Borza, Péter PeerJ Ecology Suspension feeders play pivotal roles in the nutrient cycling of almost all aquatic ecosystems. Since sufficiently large differences in the filter mesh size (FMS) can lead to different food web positions, the inter- and intraspecific variability of this trait might be of community-level importance. The aim of this study was to quantify the range of FMS variation within the three invasive Ponto-Caspian Chelicorophium species based on a large material representing various conditions (1,224 specimens from 40 samples across Central Europe), characterize the components of variation within populations, identify the main factors determining intraspecific differences, and reveal how intraspecific variation affects the FMS overlaps among species. The FMS of the most widespread invader, C. curvispinum, varied within the broadest range (between 2.34–8.28 μm, compared to 2.51–5.97 μm in C. robustum and 1.08–3.23 μm in C. sowinskyi); nevertheless, the contribution of intraspecific plasticity to the invasion success of the species is not evident based on the present study. The within-individual variability of FMS increased with the individual mean of the trait and decreased with body size; however, it showed little differences among samples. The among-individual variation within samples could be partitioned into components related to body size (ontogenetic niche shift/differences among cohorts) and sex (ecological sexual dimorphism) as well as a seemingly random component (individual specialization), varying widely in extent and relative contributions. The FMS of C. curvispinum was significantly larger in the presence of C. sowinskyi than in allopatry, likely reflecting character displacement; however, it did not show further increase when C. robustum was also present. Similar differences could not be observed in C. sowinskyi. The FMS ranges of C. curvispinum and C. robustum never overlapped with that of C. sowinskyi in co-occurrence despite the considerable intraspecific differences among sites, suggesting that their interaction can be seen as a clear case of niche differentiation by food particle size. On the contrary, the strong overlaps observed between C. curvispinum and C. robustum indicate that other factors might play the primary role in their coexistence. The studied species appear to be suitable model organisms for identifying the drivers and mechanisms of FMS variability. PeerJ Inc. 2021-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8061577/ /pubmed/33976975 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11245 Text en © 2021 Borza https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Borza, Péter
Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
title Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
title_full Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
title_fullStr Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
title_full_unstemmed Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
title_short Intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive Ponto-Caspian corophiids (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
title_sort intraspecific variability in the filter mesh size of suspension feeding organisms: the case of invasive ponto-caspian corophiids (crustacea: amphipoda)
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8061577/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33976975
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11245
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