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Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters

With the potential adverse effects of climate change, it is essential to enhance the understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics, which can be driven by the co-evolutionary interaction between autotrophs and herbivores. This study looked into the autotroph-herbivore interactions in Malaysian waters,...

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Main Authors: Lim, Wai Yin, Lim, Phaik Eem, Amri, Affendi Yang, Song, Sze Looi, Cheng, Acga
Format: Article
Published: De Gruyter 2020
Subjects:
Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/25754/
https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2020-0029
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spelling my.um.eprints.257542021-02-18T04:34:44Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/25754/ Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters Lim, Wai Yin Lim, Phaik Eem Amri, Affendi Yang Song, Sze Looi Cheng, Acga Q Science (General) QH Natural history With the potential adverse effects of climate change, it is essential to enhance the understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics, which can be driven by the co-evolutionary interaction between autotrophs and herbivores. This study looked into the autotroph-herbivore interactions in Malaysian waters, mainly to determine if autotroph nutritional quality significantly influences herbivore consumption rates. We documented the relative consumption rate of a generalist herbivore (Chanos chanos Forsskål) obtained from the Straits of Malacca through multiple feeding trials using 12 macroalgal species collected from different coastal areas of the Straits of Malacca, the Straits of Johor, and the South China Sea. The herbivore fed selectively on the tested macroalgal species, with the most and least consumed species having the lowest and highest total nitrogen content, respectively. Besides total nitrogen content, the least consumed species also had the highest total phenolic content. Interestingly, we observed that the herbivore generally preferred to consume filamentous macroalgae, especially those collected from the South China Sea. Overall, our findings demonstrated that the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore could be influenced by the nutritional quality of the autotrophs, which may depend directly or indirectly on other factors such as autotroph morphology and geography. © 2020 Lim Wai Yin et al., published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2020. De Gruyter 2020 Article PeerReviewed Lim, Wai Yin and Lim, Phaik Eem and Amri, Affendi Yang and Song, Sze Looi and Cheng, Acga (2020) Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters. Botanica Marina, 63 (5). pp. 407-417. ISSN 0006-8055 https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2020-0029 doi:10.1515/bot-2020-0029
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
spellingShingle Q Science (General)
QH Natural history
Lim, Wai Yin
Lim, Phaik Eem
Amri, Affendi Yang
Song, Sze Looi
Cheng, Acga
Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters
description With the potential adverse effects of climate change, it is essential to enhance the understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics, which can be driven by the co-evolutionary interaction between autotrophs and herbivores. This study looked into the autotroph-herbivore interactions in Malaysian waters, mainly to determine if autotroph nutritional quality significantly influences herbivore consumption rates. We documented the relative consumption rate of a generalist herbivore (Chanos chanos Forsskål) obtained from the Straits of Malacca through multiple feeding trials using 12 macroalgal species collected from different coastal areas of the Straits of Malacca, the Straits of Johor, and the South China Sea. The herbivore fed selectively on the tested macroalgal species, with the most and least consumed species having the lowest and highest total nitrogen content, respectively. Besides total nitrogen content, the least consumed species also had the highest total phenolic content. Interestingly, we observed that the herbivore generally preferred to consume filamentous macroalgae, especially those collected from the South China Sea. Overall, our findings demonstrated that the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore could be influenced by the nutritional quality of the autotrophs, which may depend directly or indirectly on other factors such as autotroph morphology and geography. © 2020 Lim Wai Yin et al., published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2020.
format Article
author Lim, Wai Yin
Lim, Phaik Eem
Amri, Affendi Yang
Song, Sze Looi
Cheng, Acga
author_facet Lim, Wai Yin
Lim, Phaik Eem
Amri, Affendi Yang
Song, Sze Looi
Cheng, Acga
author_sort Lim, Wai Yin
title Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters
title_short Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters
title_full Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters
title_fullStr Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in Malaysian waters
title_sort exploring the role of macroalgal traits on the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore in malaysian waters
publisher De Gruyter
publishDate 2020
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/25754/
https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2020-0029
_version_ 1692992294471335936
score 13.211869

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