Transgenerational acclimation influences asexual reproduction in Aurelia aurita jellyfish polyps in response to temperature.: Transgenerational plasticity in polyp reproduction
Transgenerational acclimation influences asexual reproduction in Aurelia aurita jellyfish polyps in response to temperature.: Transgenerational plasticity in polyp reproduction
Climate change events and anthropogenic activities (e.g. translocation of nonindigenous species) have been proposed to account for the rise of jellyfish blooms in coastal environments. Bloom-forming scyphozoan jellyfish of the genus Aurelia have successfully invaded new habitats and have caused damaging blooms. In attempting to understand the underlying reasons for their success, researchers have investigated immediate effects of changing environmental conditions (e.g. temperature) on scyphistomae of single/unknown generations, with a particular focus on asexual reproduction. However, it remains unclear how scyphistomae respond to changing conditions over longer time-scales or across generations, and how those responses influence bloom occurrence. Here, we examined the role of transgenerational acclimation in asexual reproduction of A. aurita scyphistomae in a 72 d orthogonal experiment, combining 3 parental with 3 offspring temperatures of 8, 12 and 16°C. The null hypothesis was that the thermal history of the parental (F0) generation will not affect asexual reproduction in the offspring (F1) generation. Our results indicated that, provided with a transgenerational temperature change, parent scyphistomae do modify the reproductive output and timing of offspring. Scyphistomae from 'cold' (8°C) parents displayed the greatest reproductive output (2.86 buds per scyphistoma) and earliest budding commencement (23.86 d) at warm temperature (16°C). Scyphistomae from 'warm' (16°C) parents displayed the greatest reproductive potential (2.63 buds) at medium temperature (12°C). Cold temperature (8°C) caused considerable inhibition of asexual reproduction in offspring scyphistomae, independent of the parental thermal history. Transgenerational acclimation may benefit potentially invasive jellyfish species facing climate-related and/or human-induced changes in the global marine environment, by facilitating asexual reproduction and subsequent bloom events.
Aurelia aurita, Invasive species, Jellyfish bloom, Phenotypic plasticity, Temperature, Transgenerational acclimation
35-50
Lu, Yichun
a7678219-7b1a-4768-9220-a9cc783cb15a
Lucas, Catherine
521743e3-b250-4c6b-b084-780af697d6bf
Loveridge, Alexandra
7c2ba4b2-905f-4ec5-8daa-3ad3202d62fa
10 December 2020
Lu, Yichun
a7678219-7b1a-4768-9220-a9cc783cb15a
Lucas, Catherine
521743e3-b250-4c6b-b084-780af697d6bf
Loveridge, Alexandra
7c2ba4b2-905f-4ec5-8daa-3ad3202d62fa
Lu, Yichun, Lucas, Catherine and Loveridge, Alexandra
(2020)
Transgenerational acclimation influences asexual reproduction in Aurelia aurita jellyfish polyps in response to temperature.: Transgenerational plasticity in polyp reproduction.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 656, .
(doi:10.3354/meps13517).
Abstract
Climate change events and anthropogenic activities (e.g. translocation of nonindigenous species) have been proposed to account for the rise of jellyfish blooms in coastal environments. Bloom-forming scyphozoan jellyfish of the genus Aurelia have successfully invaded new habitats and have caused damaging blooms. In attempting to understand the underlying reasons for their success, researchers have investigated immediate effects of changing environmental conditions (e.g. temperature) on scyphistomae of single/unknown generations, with a particular focus on asexual reproduction. However, it remains unclear how scyphistomae respond to changing conditions over longer time-scales or across generations, and how those responses influence bloom occurrence. Here, we examined the role of transgenerational acclimation in asexual reproduction of A. aurita scyphistomae in a 72 d orthogonal experiment, combining 3 parental with 3 offspring temperatures of 8, 12 and 16°C. The null hypothesis was that the thermal history of the parental (F0) generation will not affect asexual reproduction in the offspring (F1) generation. Our results indicated that, provided with a transgenerational temperature change, parent scyphistomae do modify the reproductive output and timing of offspring. Scyphistomae from 'cold' (8°C) parents displayed the greatest reproductive output (2.86 buds per scyphistoma) and earliest budding commencement (23.86 d) at warm temperature (16°C). Scyphistomae from 'warm' (16°C) parents displayed the greatest reproductive potential (2.63 buds) at medium temperature (12°C). Cold temperature (8°C) caused considerable inhibition of asexual reproduction in offspring scyphistomae, independent of the parental thermal history. Transgenerational acclimation may benefit potentially invasive jellyfish species facing climate-related and/or human-induced changes in the global marine environment, by facilitating asexual reproduction and subsequent bloom events.
Text
M 13517 Lu corr2
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 5 October 2020
Published date: 10 December 2020
Keywords:
Aurelia aurita, Invasive species, Jellyfish bloom, Phenotypic plasticity, Temperature, Transgenerational acclimation
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 446038
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/446038
ISSN: 0171-8630
PURE UUID: ab32a80c-0162-4371-8d62-df11ee3477d4
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Date deposited: 19 Jan 2021 17:33
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:59
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Author:
Yichun Lu
Author:
Alexandra Loveridge
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