scholarly journals The Importance of Genomics for Deciphering the Invasion Success of the Seagrass Halophila stipulacea in the Changing Mediterranean Sea

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 263
Author(s):  
Alexandros Tsakogiannis ◽  
Tereza Manousaki ◽  
Vasileia Anagnostopoulou ◽  
Melanthia Stavroulaki ◽  
Eugenia T. Apostolaki
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Genetic Information ◽  
Internal Transcribed Spacer ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Sequencing Technology ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Focal Species ◽  
Halophila Stipulacea ◽  
Its Regions

The Mediterranean Sea is subject to pressures from biological invasion due to coastal anthropic activities and global warming, which potentially modify its biogeography. The Red Sea tropical seagrass Halophila stipulacea entered the Eastern Mediterranean over a century ago, and its occurrence is expanding towards the northwest. Here, we highlight the importance of genomics for deciphering the evolutionary and ecological procedures taking place during the invasion process of H. stipulacea and review the relatively sparse genetic information available for the species to date. We report the first draft whole-genome sequencing of a H. stipulacea individual from Greece, based on Illumina Sequencing technology. A comparison of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) regions revealed a high divergence of the herein sequenced individual compared to Mediterranean populations sequenced two decades ago, rendering further questions on the evolutionary processes taking place during H. stipulacea adaptation in the invaded Mediterranean Sea. Our work sets the baseline for a future analysis of the invasion genomic of the focal species.

Local adaptation of a Lessepsian invader species to winter conditions in the Mediterranean Sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Débora Silva Raposo ◽  
Raphaël Morard ◽  
Christiane Schmidt ◽  
Michal Kucera
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Yield ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Red Sea ◽  
Photosynthetic Activity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Effective Quantum Yield ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Cold Temperatures ◽  
Invasion Front ◽  
The Mediterranean

<p>In recent decades the “Lessepsian” migration caused a rapid change in the marine community composition due to the invasion of alien species from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea. Among these invaders is the large benthic foraminifera <em>Amphistegina lobifera</em>, a diatom-bearing species that recently reached the invasion front in Sicily. There it copes with colder winters and broader temperature than in its original source, the Red Sea. It is not yet known how (or if) the population from the invasion front has developed adaptation to this new thermal regime. Understanding the modern marine invasive patterns is a crucial tool to predict future invasive successes in marine environments. Therefore, in this study we aim to evaluate the physiological responses to cold temperatures of <em>A. lobifera</em> populations at three different invasive stages: source (Red Sea), early invader (Eastern Mediterranean) and invasion front (Sicily). For this, we conducted a culturing experiment in which we monitored the responses of the foraminifera (growth, motility) to temperatures of 10, 13, 16, 19°C + control (25°C) over four weeks. To address what is the role of their endosymbionts in the adaptation process, we also monitored their photosynthetic activity (Pulse Amplitude Modulation - PAM fluorometer) during the experiment. The growth rate of the foraminifera was reduced for all populations below 19°C as well as the motility, reduced until 16°C and dropping to zero below 13°C. The response of the endosymbionts was however different. There was a reduced photosynthetic activity of the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean populations at colder temperatures observed by the lower maximum quantum yield (Fv:Fm) and effective quantum yield (Y(II)), when compared to their initial levels and to the other treatments. In the meantime, the endosymbionts of the Sicily population stood out with the highest photosynthetic activity (Fv:Fm and Y(II)) in the treatments bellow 13 °C (P < 0.05). In conclusion, we observed that while the host responses were similar between the three populations, the endosymbionts from the invasion front population shows the best performance at colder temperatures. This suggests that the photo-symbiosis has an important role in adaptation, most likely being a key factor to the success of past and future migrations.</p>

scholarly journals Seasonal dynamics of native and invasive Halophila stipulacea populations—A case study from the northern Gulf of Aqaba and the eastern Mediterranean Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 103205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hung Manh Nguyen ◽  
Ioannis Savva ◽  
Periklis Kleitou ◽  
Demetris Kletou ◽  
Fernando P. Lima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Seasonal Dynamics ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Gulf Of Aqaba ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Halophila Stipulacea

scholarly journals Exotic Halophila stipulacea is an introduced carbon sink for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia T. Apostolaki ◽  
Salvatrice Vizzini ◽  
Veronica Santinelli ◽  
Helen Kaberi ◽  
Cristina Andolina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Halophila Stipulacea

Potential cryptic speciation in Mediterranean populations of Ophioderma (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea)

Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2071 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
SABINE STÖHR ◽  
EMILIE BOISSIN ◽  
ANNE CHENUIL
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Body Colour ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Weak Support ◽  
Brooding Period ◽  
Eastern Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Coi Sequences

Ophioderma longicauda is a large brittlestar species, common in the Mediterranean Sea and spread across the subtropical-tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean. Recently, a morphologically similar brooding form of O. longicauda was discovered in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The brooding period is restricted to late May and early June and the largest females brood over 1,000 juveniles, all of the same ontogenetic stage. Brooders differ from non-brooding O. longicauda in body colour (dominated by green instead of red), gonad colour (in alcohol white instead of oliveto reddish-brown) and size (up to 17 mm disk diameter instead of 30 mm). These characters overlap between both forms though. Molecular data (mt-COI sequences) lend weak support to the existence of two separate species, but suggest that if a split occurred it is recent and both forms interbreed. Alternatively, the eastern Mediterranean populations could represent a poecilogonous subgroup of O. longicauda.

scholarly journals Regional environmental conditions determine tolerance to future warming of a marine macroalgae forests

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Verdura ◽  
Sonia de Caralt ◽  
Jorge Santamaria ◽  
Alba Vergés ◽  
Luisa Mangialajo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stress ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Temperature Tolerance ◽  
Marine Macroalgae ◽  
Marine Habitat ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Temperature Regimes ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract: In the Mediterranean Sea, many species of Cystoseira, which are important habitat-forming species on shallow rocky bottoms, have gone missing from many coastal areas, impairing essential ecosystem services. Cystoseira crinita forests thrive in very shallow waters from sheltered environments and are currently regressing in several European shores. In the actual scenario of ocean warming it is essential to determine the vulnerability of these populations to thermal stress in order to design future conservation actions. Since the response of this macroalgae to thermal stress may be site-specific, here we compared the thermal tolerance of populations dwelling in the coldest and warmest areas of the Mediterranean Sea. We show that C. crinita populations from warmer areas (Eastern Mediterranean) had a temperature tolerance threshold 2ºC higher than Northwestern Mediterranean populations. There is a strong correlation between the observed differential phenotypic responses and the local temperature regimes experienced by each population. This is the first evidence for the role of thermal history in shaping the thermotolerance responses marine habitat-forming macroalgae under contrasting temperature environments. Financial support from EU2020 (R+I) under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES) and MINECO (CGL2016-76341-R).

scholarly journals Tropical seagrass Halophila stipulacea shifts thermal tolerance during Mediterranean invasion

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1922) ◽  
pp. 20193001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Wesselmann ◽  
Andrea Anton ◽  
Carlos M. Duarte ◽  
Iris E. Hendriks ◽  
Susana Agustí ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Red Sea ◽  
Thermal Tolerance ◽  
Seawater Temperature ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Thermal Thresholds ◽  
Thermal Niche ◽  
Thermal Limits ◽  
Halophila Stipulacea ◽  
The Mediterranean

Exotic species often face new environmental conditions that are different from those that they are adapted to. The tropical seagrass Halophila stipulacea is a Lessepsian migrant that colonized the Mediterranean Sea around 100 years ago, where at present the minimum seawater temperature is cooler than in its native range in the Red Sea. Here, we tested if the temperature range in which H. stipulacea can exist is conserved within the species or if the exotic populations have shifted their thermal breadth and optimum due to the cooler conditions in the Mediterranean. We did so by comparing the thermal niche (e.g. optimal temperatures, and upper and lower thermal limits) of native (Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea) and exotic (Greece and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea) populations of H. stipulacea . We exposed plants to 12 temperature treatments ranging from 8 to 40°C for 7 days. At the end of the incubation period, we measured survival, rhizome elongation, shoot recruitment, net population growth and metabolic rates. Upper and lower lethal thermal thresholds (indicated by 50% plant mortality) were conserved across populations, but minimum and optimal temperatures for growth and oxygen production were lower for Mediterranean populations than for the Red Sea one. The displacement of the thermal niche of exotic populations towards the colder Mediterranean Sea regime could have occurred within 175 clonal generations.

scholarly journals Regional environmental conditions determine tolerance to future warming of a marine macroalgae forests

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Verdura ◽  
Sonia de Caralt ◽  
Jorge Santamaria ◽  
Alba Vergés ◽  
Luisa Mangialajo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stress ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Temperature Tolerance ◽  
Marine Macroalgae ◽  
Marine Habitat ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Temperature Regimes ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract: In the Mediterranean Sea, many species of Cystoseira, which are important habitat-forming species on shallow rocky bottoms, have gone missing from many coastal areas, impairing essential ecosystem services. Cystoseira crinita forests thrive in very shallow waters from sheltered environments and are currently regressing in several European shores. In the actual scenario of ocean warming it is essential to determine the vulnerability of these populations to thermal stress in order to design future conservation actions. Since the response of this macroalgae to thermal stress may be site-specific, here we compared the thermal tolerance of populations dwelling in the coldest and warmest areas of the Mediterranean Sea. We show that C. crinita populations from warmer areas (Eastern Mediterranean) had a temperature tolerance threshold 2ºC higher than Northwestern Mediterranean populations. There is a strong correlation between the observed differential phenotypic responses and the local temperature regimes experienced by each population. This is the first evidence for the role of thermal history in shaping the thermotolerance responses marine habitat-forming macroalgae under contrasting temperature environments. Financial support from EU2020 (R+I) under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES) and MINECO (CGL2016-76341-R).

scholarly journals A star is torn—molecular analysis divides the Mediterranean population of Poli’s stellate barnacle, Chthamalus stellatus (Cirripedia, Chtamalidae)

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11826
Author(s):  
Yaron Tikochinski ◽  
Sharon Tamir ◽  
Noa Simon-Blecher ◽  
Uzi Motro ◽  
Yair Achituv
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Suitable Model ◽  
Mediterranean Population ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
The North ◽  
The Mediterranean

Poli’s stellate barnacle, Chthamalus stellatus Poli, populates the Mediterranean Sea, the North-Eastern Atlantic coasts, and the offshore Eastern Atlantic islands. Previous studies have found apparent genetic differences between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean populations of C. stellatus, suggesting possible geological and oceanographic explanations for these differences. We have studied the genetic diversity of 14 populations spanning from the Eastern Atlantic to the Eastern Mediterranean, using two nuclear genes sequences revealing a total of 63 polymorphic sites. Both genotype-based, haplotype-based and the novel SNP distribution population-based methods have found that these populations represent a geographic cline along the west to east localities. The differences in SNP distribution among populations further separates a major western cluster into two smaller clusters, the Eastern Atlantic and the Western Mediterranean. It also separates the major eastern cluster into two smaller clusters, the Mid-Mediterranean and Eastern Mediterranean. We suggested here environmental conditions like surface currents, water salinity and temperature as probable factors that have formed the population structure. We demonstrate that C. stellatus is a suitable model organism for studying how geological events and hydrographic conditions shape the fauna in the Mediterranean Sea.

scholarly journals Natural history and molecular evolution of demersal Mediterranean sharks and skates inferred by comparative phylogeographic and demographic analyses

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Ferrari ◽  
Fausto Tinti ◽  
Victoria Bertucci Maresca ◽  
Alessandro Velonà ◽  
Rita Cannas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Differentiation ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Historical Demography ◽  
Phylogeographic Structure ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
The Mediterranean

Background The unique and complex paleoclimatic and paleogeographic events which affected the Mediterranean Sea since late Miocene deeply influenced the distribution and evolution of marine organisms and shaped their genetic structure. Following the Messinian salinity crisis and the sea-level fluctuations during the Pleistocene, several Mediterranean marine species developed deep genetic differentiation, and some underwent rapid radiation. Here, we consider two of the most prioritized groups for conservation in the light of their evolutionary history: sharks and rays (elasmobranchs). This paper deals with a comparative multispecies analysis of phylogeographic structure and historical demography in two pairs of sympatric, phylogenetically- and ecologically-related elasmobranchs, two scyliorhinid catsharks (Galeus melastomus, Scyliorhinus canicula) and two rajid skates (Raja clavata, Raja miraletus). Sampling and experimental analyses were designed to primarily test if the Sicilian Channel can be considered as effective eco-physiological barrier for Mediterranean demersal sympatric elasmobranchs. Methods The phylogeography and the historical demography of target species were inferred by analysing the nucleotide variation of three mitochondrial DNA markers (i.e., partial sequence of COI, NADH2 and CR) obtained from a total of 248 individuals sampled in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean Sea as well as in the adjacent northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Phylogeographic analysis was performed by haplotype networking and testing spatial genetic differentiation of samples (i.e., analysis of molecular variance and of principal components). Demographic history of Mediterranean populations was reconstructed using mismatch distribution and Bayesian Skyline Plot analyses. Results No spatial genetic differentiation was identified in either catshark species, while phylogeographic structure of lineages was identified in both skates, with R. miraletus more structured than R. clavata. However, such structuring of skate lineages was not consistent with the separation between Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Sudden demographic expansions occurred synchronously during the upper Pleistocene (40,000–60,000 years ago) in both skates and G. melastomus, likely related to optimal environmental conditions. In contrast, S. canicula experienced a slow and constant increase in population size over the last 350,000 years. Discussion The comparative analysis of phylogeographic and historical demographic patterns for the Mediterranean populations of these elasmobranchs reveals that historical phylogeographic breaks have not had a large impact on their microevolution. We hypothesize that interactions between environmental and ecological/physiological traits may have been the driving force in the microevolution of these demersal elasmobranch species in the Mediterranean rather than oceanographic barriers.

scholarly journals Regional environmental conditions determine tolerance to future warming of a marine macroalgae forests

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Verdura ◽  
Sonia de Caralt ◽  
Jorge Santamaria ◽  
Alba Vergés ◽  
Luisa Mangialajo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stress ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Temperature Tolerance ◽  
Marine Macroalgae ◽  
Marine Habitat ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
Temperature Regimes ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract: In the Mediterranean Sea, many species of Cystoseira, which are important habitat-forming species on shallow rocky bottoms, have gone missing from many coastal areas, impairing essential ecosystem services. Cystoseira crinita forests thrive in very shallow waters from sheltered environments and are currently regressing in several European shores. In the actual scenario of ocean warming it is essential to determine the vulnerability of these populations to thermal stress in order to design future conservation actions. Since the response of this macroalgae to thermal stress may be site-specific, here we compared the thermal tolerance of populations dwelling in the coldest and warmest areas of the Mediterranean Sea. We show that C. crinita populations from warmer areas (Eastern Mediterranean) had a temperature tolerance threshold 2ºC higher than Northwestern Mediterranean populations. There is a strong correlation between the observed differential phenotypic responses and the local temperature regimes experienced by each population. This is the first evidence for the role of thermal history in shaping the thermotolerance responses marine habitat-forming macroalgae under contrasting temperature environments. Financial support from EU2020 (R+I) under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES) and MINECO (CGL2016-76341-R).

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