EAPSI:Comparing geographic patterns of reproductive strategy in an invasive sea anemone between native (Japan) and invaded (US) ranges

Ryan Will, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

In the globalized modern world, marine organisms are often carried across oceans by ships. Remarkably few of these creatures are able to make the leap from stow-away to established colonist on a foreign shore. However, the ones that are successful can have enormous ecological and economic consequences on the communities they invade. This project will compare the reproductive behavior of a globally successful sea anemone across its native range in Japan to that observed across its invaded US range. This comparison is important for predicting what traits help a species become an invader and for understanding how natural variation contributes to the spread of a species. This work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Matthew Dick of Hokkaido University, whose expertise in the genetics of marine populations will be essential to the success of the project. The asexual fission rate of the anemome Diadumene lineata is positively correlated with water temperature and negatively correlated with gamete production. These features produce a latitudinal gradient in reproductive strategy in the United States, with poleward populations skewed toward sexual reproduction where equatorial populations are predominantly clonal. While there is variation among populations in the degree of temperature sensitivity, all individuals divide faster in warm water and produce more gametes in cold water. These forms of life history plasticity are likely important in explaining the global success of this species, however, these features have only been studied in the invasive range thus far. This project will use a combination of common garden growth studies and microsatellite genetic analysis on populations spanning the species? native range in Japan to understand how well the globally invasive lineages represent the genetic and life history variation present in the native range, in hopes of better understanding the role of reproductive plasticity in marine invasions. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.