Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS15 Biomechanics: Making the Connection Between Physics and Biology at the Organismal Level (Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 11:15:00 AM

Location: Mesilla

Zimmer, R, K, Biology Dept., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA, z@biology.ucla.edu

Browne, K, A, Biology Dept., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA,

CONTROLLED FIELD RELEASE OF A WATERBORNE CHEMICAL SIGNAL STIMULATES PLANKTONIC LARVAE TO SETTLE

Settlement rates and distributions of planktonic larvae are critical determinants of population dynamics in marine and freshwater benthic communities. Based on the physics of solute diffusion from a porous material, chemical-releasing collectors (CRCs) were engineered and tested in an estuary. Significantly more barnacle larvae (Balanus amphitrite) were found to colonize collectors emitting trace amounts of the synthetic peptide analog, glycy-glycyl-L-arginine (50 nanomolar), than seawater or an organic enrichment (glycyl-glycyl-L- histidine) control. The inductive compound is structurally similar to peptide signal molecules that are naturally released by adult barnacles and oysters and previously shown to elicit settlement under laboratory conditions. Our results are the first conclusive demonstration that planktonic larvae settle in response to the controlled field release of a known waterborne cue. The potent effects of subtle changes in seawater chemistry may thus warrant careful attention as putative agents mediating habitat colonization.

This Session Listing

Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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