
NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | July 9, 2014 |
Latest Amendment Date: | July 16, 2017 |
Award Number: | 1341333 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Peter Milne
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
Start Date: | August 1, 2014 |
End Date: | July 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $899,685.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $904,474.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2017 = $4,789.00 |
History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
701 S 20TH STREET BIRMINGHAM AL US 35294-0001 (205)934-5266 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
AL US 35294-0001 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | ANT Organisms & Ecosystems |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
The coastal environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of marine animals and algae. The importance of the interactions between these groups of organisms in the ecology of coastal Antarctica are well known and often mediated by chemical defenses in the tissues of the algae. These chemicals are meant to deter feeding by snails and other marine animals making the Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of chemical compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives: the first objective is to expand the current understanding of the relationship between algae and their associated marine animals. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend algae from being consumed. The third objective seeks to understand how marine animals can benefit from these compounds by consuming the algae that contain them, and then using those compounds to chemically deter predators. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to the US Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. The investigators will also foster opportunities to integrate their NSF research with a variety of educational activities. As in the past they will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs as well as home, university-based, programs, and they will also continue to support and foster graduate education. Through their highly successful University of Alabama in Antarctica interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education), they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators have hosted K-12 teachers on their Antarctic field teams through the former NSF Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program and will pursue participation in PolarTREC, the successor to this valuable program. Moreover, they will actively participate in outreach efforts by presenting numerous talks on their research to local school and community groups.
The near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of macroalgae and macroinvertebrates. The importance of predator-prey interactions and chemical defenses in mediating community-wide trophic interactions makes the western Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of defensive compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives which are a direct outcome of the past studies of the chemical ecology of shallow-water marine macroalgae and invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula by this group of investigators. The first objective is to expand the current understanding of a community-wide mutualism between macroalgae and their associated amphipods to include gastropods, which are also abundant on many macroalgae. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend macroalgae from being consumed, particularly in the common red alga Plocamium cartilagineum. The third objective seeks to understand the relationship between P. cartilagineum and the amphipod Paradexamine fissicauda, including the ecological benefits and costs to P. fissicauda resulting from the ability to consume P. cartilagineum and other chemically defended red algae. The investigators will focus on the costs and benefits related to the ability of P. fissicauda to sequester defensive compounds from the alga P. cartilagineum and use those chemicals to defend itself from predation. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. Phylogenetic analyses, detailed secondary metabolite chemical analyses and purifications, and other data analyses will also be performed at the investigators' home institutions between and after their field seasons.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
On the Western Antarctic Peninsula, macroalgae (seaweeds) are a dominant element of the seafloor community and include species that are unique to Antarctica. Understanding their distribution and other aspects of their ecology is important, especially as the continent experiences a changing climate. We studied the chemical ecology of Antarctic red algae and their predators to better understand how these macroalgae interact with other members of the seafloor community.
Analysis of macroalgae identified multiple species that are chemically defended, each of which used an array of small metabolites that were toxic to predators or competitors. In one red alga, Plocamium cartilagineum, the metabolites formed distinct patterns of distribution that correlated with genetic linkages. The metabolites were demonstrated to influence potential predators of P. cartilagineum using field-based assays at Palmer Station. The observed distribution patterns are reminiscent of previous episodic sequestration events whereby populations of alga may have become separated in glacial refugia. Different sequestered populations could then evolve under specific predator assemblages, resulting in metabolite-specific phenotypes we see now, albeit absent their refugia. These results inform our understanding of the resiliency of the algal community under evolving environmental conditions.
We also studied the abundance of gastropods (primarily snails) on chemically-defended brown macroalgae as well as the impact of the gastropods on their host. We found that the gastropods were very abundant on these brown macroalgae and that their presence benefited the macroalgal hosts. The gastropods do not eat the macroalgae but do eat smaller, microscopic algae that can grow on the macroalgae. Without the gastropods and other small associated animals, the large macroalgae can be overgrown by the microscopic algae which would inhibit their access to sunlight and dissolved nutrients in the surrounding water.
New chemical substances that resulted from these and related studies have potential impact outside the ecological context in which we found them. Many have been examined for their potential application as therapeutics, agrochemicals, and biotechnological agents, among other uses. The metabolites from P. cartilagineum, for example, were found to be toxic to certain cancer cells, and other metabolites studied to date were effective against malaria, MRSA and leishmaniasis.
Last Modified: 09/29/2020
Modified by: Charles D Amsler
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