Skip to main content
Log in

Dynamics of a peculiar plant-herbivore relationship: the photosynthetic ascoglossan Elysia timida and the chlorophycean Acetabularia acetabulum

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ascoglossan mollusc Elysia timida Risso, 1818 retains functional chloroplasts from its algal food, the chlorophycean Acetabularia acetabulum (L.). Photosynthates from the plastids are an important source of organic nutrients for the mollusc. Chloroplast exploitation has an ecological function, allowing the ascoglossan to live entirely on an algal diet which is of limited, seasonal availability to other herbivores. Between October 1987 and July 1988, the annual evolution of the molluscan and algal populations was studied in a cove of Mazarrón Bay, southeast Spain. The population density of the mollusc is highly dependent on its food supply, being controlled by the seasonal life cycle of the algal population. During its life cycle, the degree of grazing by the mollusc decreases with increasing algal calcification, the cell walls of the alga progressively calcify, and the eventually highly calcificied stalks are completely resistant to ascoglossan grazing. In contrast, the exploitation of the algal chloroplasts retained by the molluscs increases during the seasonal cycle. The progressively increasing scarcity of food during the seasonal cycle may have led to the retention of symbiotic chloroplasts by E. timida. The developmental strategy of the ascoglossan also changes during the year: when food is abundant (in November, December, January, February and March) it is direct, with no planktonic larval phase, when food is scarce (in October, April, May and June) it is lecithotrophic, with a short planktonic larval phase. Chloroplast retention acts as a buffer, alleviating the effects of annual changes in density, structure and abundance of the alga on the nutritional state of the molluse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  • Ben-Izhak, E., Rahat, M. (1980). Photobiology of Elysia timida (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia): observations in the sea. Israel J. Zool. 129: 125–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouchet, P. (1984). Les Elysiidae de Méditerranée (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchiata). Annls Inst. océanogr. Paris (N.S) 60: 19–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, K.B. Busacca, M., Stirts, H. (1979). Nutritional aspects of development of the ascoglossan Elysia cauze. In: Stancyk, S.C. (ed.) Reproductive ecology of marine invertebrates. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, p. 11–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, K.B., DeFreese, D. (1987). Population ecology of Caribbean Ascoglossa (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia): a study of specialized algal herbivores. Am. malac. Bull. 5: 259–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, K.R., Jensen, K.R. (1981). A comparison of egg size, capsule size, and development patterns in the order Ascoglossa (Sacoglossa) (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Int. J. Invert. Reprod. (Amsterdam) 3: 57–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Holme, N.A., McIntyre, A.D. (1984). Methods for the study of marine benthos. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinde, R. (1983). Retention of chloroplasts by molluscs. In: Goff, L.J. (ed.) Algal symbiosis. A continuum of interaction strategies. University Press, Cambridge, p. 97–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinde, R., Smith, D.C. (1975). The role of photosynthesis in the nutrition of the mollusc Elysia viridis. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 17: 161–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Marín, A., Ros, J.D. (1988). Los sacoglosos (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) del sudeste ibérico. Catálogo de las especies y presencia de cloroplastos algales en las mismas. Iberus 8: 25–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Marín, A., Ros, J.D. (1989). The chloroplast-animal association in four Iberian sacoglossan opisthobranchs: Elysia timida, Elysia translucens, Thuridilla hopei and Bosellia mimetica. Scientia mar. 53: 429–440

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahat, M. (1976). Direct development and symbiotic chloroplasts in Elysia timida (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Israel J. Zool 53: 186–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahat, M., Ben-Izahak, E.B. (1979). Photobiology of the chloroplast hosting mollusc Elysia timida. J. exp. Biol. 79: 225–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Ros, J.D. (1981). Desarrollo y estrategias bionómicas en los opistobranquios. Oecologia 5: 147–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Ros, J.D., Rodríguez, J. (1985). La simbiosis algal en Elysia timida Risso, 1818. Primeros resultados. An. Biol. 4: 37–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoecker, D.K., Silver, M.W. (1990). Replacement and aging of chloroplasts in Strombidium capitatum (Ciliophora: Oligotrichida). Mar. Biol. 107: 491–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, T.E. (1967). Direct development in a nudibranch, Cadlina laevis, with a discussion of developmental processes in Opisthobranchia. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 47: 1–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, T.E. (1976). Biology of opistobranch molluscs. I. Ray Society, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, T.E., Jaklin, A. (1988). Eastern Mediterranean Opisthobranchia: Elysiidae (Sacoglossa=Ascoglossa). J. mollusc. Stud. 54: 59–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Trench, R.K., Boyle, J.E., Smith, D.C. (1973). The association between chloroplasts of Codium fragile and photosynthetic carbon fixation in E. viridis. Proc. R. Soc. (Ser. B) 184: 63–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Trench, M., Trench, R.K., Muscatine, L. (1970). Utilization of symbiotic chloroplasts in mucus synthesis by Placobranchus ianthobapsus (Gould), Opisthobranchia, Sacoglossa. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 37: 113–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Waugh, G.R., Clark, K.B. (1986). Seasonal and geographic variation in chlorophyll level of Elysia tuca (Ascoglossa: Opisthobranchia). Mar. Biol. 92: 483–487

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Communicated by J. M. Pérès, Marseille

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Marín, A., Ros, J.D. Dynamics of a peculiar plant-herbivore relationship: the photosynthetic ascoglossan Elysia timida and the chlorophycean Acetabularia acetabulum . Marine Biology 112, 677–682 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346186

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346186

Keywords

Navigation