A few weeks ago, I highlighted the artistic and scientific variety of illustrations of Metridium senile. These images were on my desk because Metridium is on our minds a lot these days as the focus of the dissertation research of EEOB PhD student Heather Glon. Heather aims to address one of the persistent problems with this widespread and highly variable anemone: whether the name Metridium senile is being used for a constellation of related but distinct species or whether it represents a single, cohesive circumpolar species.
Answering this question requires sampling across the broad range of this species, analyzing DNA from multiple individuals within populations, and comparing morphology and micro-anatomy. Although our partner museums, like the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, American Museum of Natural History, and California Academy of Sciences, hold collections that can help solve this puzzle, none of these collections have sampled at the depth we require and the vast majority of the samples in museums are preserved in ways that complicate DNA analysis. With only a few years to amass the data needed for a dissertation, we have no choice but to spend spring break on the road, searching for Metridium along the California coast.
We will sample along the California coast from Bodega Head to Morro Bay.
This is the sampling gear we need to collect anemones
After nearly 10 weeks in classes, this chance to be outside in the field, focusing on research is a welcome change of pace for both me and Heather. The recent rains in California and generally high low tides of the coming week means that we’ll work mostly from floating docks, searching for small pink anemones among the sea squirts, hydroids, and worm tubes coating the floats and pilings. Our travels will take us from Bodega Head to Morro Bay, with detours through Monterey, Half Moon Bay, and Marin. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or check back here on Friday for a wrap up of our efforts.
About the Author:Dr. Meg Daly is Professor in the department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, director of the Museum of Biological Diversity and leads the laboratory of marine invertebrate diversity at OSU. She and her students study systematics of cnidaria, sea anemones, jellyfish and their like.
In addition to serving as a source of amusing common names, books like Gosse’s “A History of the British Sea Anemones and Corals” can be a source of gorgeous and informative illustrations. The images here all depict the species Gosse called “The Plumose Anemone.” Metridium senile is common on both coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean and has close relatives in temperate Pacific waters (some of these have been called M. senile, but are now recognized as distinct species). The drawings in these five guides highlight several of the key field attributes of the species and manage to convey a sense of the beauty of the animals. Scanned copies of most of these books are available through the “Biodiversity heritage Library.”
On the plate of Metridium senile fromGosse’s (1858) guide to British anemones and corals note the undulating oral disc, a characteristic of the species. All of the plates in Gosse’s treatise are based on watercolors he made of living specimens.
Landsborough’s (1852) “Popular History of Zoophytes” preceded Gosse’s treatment of sea anemones, corals and their kin. As the plate label shows, at the time this book was published, the accepted name for the species was Actinia dianthus.
Tugwell’s (1856) “Manual of Sea Anemones” also preceded Gosse’s treatise. The frontispiece of this volume includes a fold-out color plate of M. senile that shows both the undulating disc and short tentacles characteristic of this species.
The figure from Pennington’s (1885) “British Zoophytes” strongly recalls Gosse’s plate, suggesting that the latter was inspiration or template for the line drawing upon which this figure is based.
Stephenson’s (1935) guide “The British Sea Anemones” included watercolor-based plates that rival Gosse’s for their beauty and level of scientific detail. This plate shows the color diversity in M. senile and depicts the tentacles from above and the side.
In addition to showing the whole of M. senile, Stephenson (1935) included tentacles of the species (upper R and L corners) in a fanciful but effective compilation intended to highlight differences in arrangement, shape, and coloration of tentacles in the various species of sea anemone in Britain.
About the Author: Dr. Meg Daly is Professor in the department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, director of the Museum of Biological Diversity and leads the laboratory of marine invertebrate diversity at OSU. She and her students study systematics of cnidaria, sea anemones, jellyfish and their like.
Names are important to us as museum scientists. The scientific name is a key index for specimens and the hierarchy implicit in binomial nomenclature is essential to the organization of collections. Names also reveal historical connections, folklore, and biology of the organisms.
The scientific name is always given as a binomen, a two-part name consisting of a genus and species. As the words themselves suggest, the genus name is more “general” than the species name, identifying the larger group to which a species belongs. The genus name is capitalized and the species name is not, and by convention, both are rendered in italics (or underlined when handwritten). The genus name can be abbreviated to a single (uppercase) letter (e.g., H. sapiens, E. coli). The application of a binomen is governed by a series of rules (called the codes of nomenclature) devised and agreed upon by the scientific community. The nomenclature of animals differs slightly from that of plants (and fungi), reflecting the different histories and cultures of zoology and botany. The rules are designed to support and facilitate the description of biodiversity and include provisions for resolving conflicts in the application of names.
Many species (including ours!) have both a scientific name and common (or vernacular) name. Unlike the scientific name, which is the same in every language, a common name is generally language-specific and may even differ within a language across regions or over time.
Anemonia viridis, the common European sea anemone, wasroos, anémone de mer verte
Take for example Anemonia viridis. The common name for this species in England is “the snakelocks anemone.” In Dutch, it’s “wasroos,” and in French, it’s “anémone de mer verte.” These common names emphasize different things about the animals–the long tentacles (English), the texture (Dutch), and the color (French).
In many cases, the common name and scientific name are essentially the same name – scientific names often have roots in Greek or Latin and the common name may be a translation of this (or vice versa -the scientific name may be a Latinization of a common name).
Nematostella vectensis – the “starlet sea anemone” is a great example. The name for the genus translates to “threadlike star,” which aptly describes its appearance.
Nematostella vectensis, a threadlike star
Lucernaria janetae in honor of Dr. Janet Voight
Common names generally highlight the appearance or biology of a species, but may provide a glimpse into its history or refer to some aspect of its biology. For example, Lucernaria janetae was named to honor Dr. Janet Voight, a marine biodiversity scientist at the Field Museum. Janet was the motivating force behind the research expedition on which these deep-sea stalked jellyfish were collected.
In the nineteenth century, as part of broad enthusiasm for natural history, common names were chosen for many species that had previously escaped popular attention. For sea anemones, this meant a proliferation of names like “the Crimson Pufflet,” “the Sprawlet,” and “the Gem Pimplet.” As fanciful as these names seem, there is an internal logic to them: all of the species called Pufflets belong to the same group, as do the various Pimplets. The coiner of these common names was Philip Henry Gosse, a British naturalist and author who had better success with another of his invented words, “aquarium,” a portmanteau of “aquatic” and “vivarium.” Sadly, despite Gosse’s best efforts, common names are generally not used for anemones in English-speaking countries, with the exception of very common and widespread species or those sold through the aquarium trade.
About the Author: Dr. Meg Daly is Professor in the department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, director of the Museum of Biological Diversity and leads the laboratory of marine invertebrate diversity at OSU. She and her students study systematics of cnidaria, sea anemones, jellyfish and their like.
Explaining Science – a new series of blog posts bringing scientific discoveries focused around biodiversity to your living room.
Are you ready to learn about phylogeography, population genetics and symbiosis, great topics to impress your boss and co-workers at the next Holiday party?
Let’s set the scene: If you have been scuba-diving off the coast of Florida you are probably familiar with the coral reefs found offshore from the coast, the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States and the third largest coral barrier reef system in the world. It is a hotspot for biodiversity, meaning that you were probably awed (if you looked closely) by the diversity of animals that call this reef their home. Given the large diversity, not only of species but also in strategies that allow them to be successful in this environment, coral reefs are great places for scientists to study relationships among living beings. We refer to this part of science as phylogeography, the study of why species live where they do, how they got there and how they are related with each other.
Here at the MBD we are lucky to have the Laboratory of Marine Invertebrate Diversity led by Professor Meg Daly and her students who explore biodiversity of sea anemones and the diversity in marine symbioses of crustaceans with some anemones. Benjamin Titus, one of the PhD students in Daly’s lab, recently published a study entitled “Specialist and generalist symbionts show counterintuitive levels of genetic diversity and discordant demographic histories along the Florida Reef Tract” in the scientific journal Coral Reefs. I was intrigued and asked Ben to explain the purpose and the significance of his study. Following is a series of clips from my interview with Ben or you can scroll down to a brief take-home-message, summarizing the main results.
Introduction: Every good scientific study tests a hypothesis that developed from previous research, here Ben tests these two hypotheses:
One of these hypotheses, the specialist-generalist variation hypothesis, predicts that specialists, species that rely on a close association with one particular species, show reduced genetic variation and genetically structured populations.
Study site:
Ben collected samples along the Florida Reef tract:
Study system: Crustaceans living with sea anemones are small animals, many have not (yet) been studied closely. Thus we often do not even know how many species exist within a genus. It is not surprising that genetic analyses reveal new relationships. Ben’s study subjects are 1 sea anemone and 6 crustacean species:
corkscrew sea anemone Bartholomea annulata
At least 6 species of crustaceans can live symbiotically with sea anemones. Ben focused on the corkscrew anemone, Bartholomea annulata, as a host for red snapping shrimp (Genus Alpheus), the Pederson cleaning shrimp (Genus Ancylomenes), the spotted cleaner shrimp (Genus Pericilemenes), the sexy shrimp (Genus Thor), and the arrow crab (Genus Stenorhynchus).
These species differ in their life history strategies, what they do to strive and survive:
The red snapping shrimp is most often found buried in the sand beneath the anemone’s column; it is considered an obligate symbiont, because it depends on the anemone for survival.
The Pederson cleaning shrimp is commonly found within the anemone’s tentacles; it is also considered an obligate symbiont but a host generalist, in that it will associate with a variety of anemone species.
The spotted cleaner shrimp lives among the tentacles of several species of sea anemones; like the Pederson cleaning shrimp, it is an obligate symbiont and host generalist.
pistol snapping shrimp Alpheus armatus
Pederson’s cleaner shrimp Ancylomenes pedersoni
spotted cleaner shrimp Periclimines yucatanicus
The sexy shrimp is a generalist symbiont found with a variety of anemones and corals; it is a facultative generalist, for whom a close relationship with an anemone is not necessary for its survival.
The arrow crab is a facultative symbiont, often living in association with an anemone, but such a relationship is not necessary for its survival.
sexy shrimp Thor amboinensis
yellowline arrow crab Stenorhynchus seticornis
Sample collection: Collecting crustaceans for the genetic analysis required a couple of field trips to Florida, scuba-diving offshore and occasionally an inventive technique to knock-out pesky invertebrates.
Genetic Analysis: Back in the lab at OSU Ben extracted genetic material, specifically mitochondrial DNA, from the samples he collected in the field and for this study used one particular marker within this mitochondrial genome: CO1.
Results – hypothesis 1: Against his expectations (recall the specialist-generalist variation hypothesis from above), Ben found that specialists showed greater genetic diversity than the two generalists he studied and overall the sampled populations are not structured along the Florida Reef Tract.
Cryptic species are individuals within a species that are morphologically similar, appear identical, but do not breed with each other because they are genetically quite distinct. Crustaceans living with sea anemones are small animals and many have not (yet) been studied closely. Thus we often do not even know how many species exist within a genus. It is not surprising that genetic analyses reveal new relationships. Based on his previous research findings, Ben suspected cryptic species in some genera, and found evidence both within the snapping and the cleaner shrimp (genera Ancylomenes and Periclimenes). Ben discovered species that had so far been unknown to us.
Results – hypothesis 2: The second hypothesis regarding shared diversification by co-occurring species, was not supported by the collected data. Most populations did not show a recent expansion since the last changes in sea levels with the end of the ice age some 15,000 years ago. Only one of the snapping shrimp species, Alpheus immaculatus (Fig.6b), showed an increase in population size about 300,000 years ago.
Fig.6a: Bayesian skyline plot of Alpheus armatus
Fig.6 b: Bayesian skyline plot of Alpheus immaculatus
Conclusion: So what do these findings mean? Finding new species highlights that the Florida Reef Tract is a biodiversity hotspot, currently maybe even underappreciated because not all species within this diversity have been detected and described yet.
Understanding the genetic structure of crustacean populations is important because they play fundamental roles in the marine ecosystem, in symbiotic relationships with anemones and corals, the building blocks of coral reefs.
Take-home-message: The Florida Reef tract is an important biodiversity hotspot with yet undescribed species. Specialists may have greater genetic diversity than generalists in some, particularly marine ecosystems, where larvae disperse far distances. When host availability is not a limiting factor, species that co-occur on the same host and would be expected to show similar diversification patterns, species may follow quite different trajectories of phylogeographic history.
Citation:
Titus, B. M., & Daly, M. (2016). Specialist and generalist symbionts show counterintuitive levels of genetic diversity and discordant demographic histories along the Florida Reef Tract. Coral Reefs, 1-16.
Did you know that …
Biodiversity refers to the variety of living beings on our planet. Invertebrates are estimated to have the greatest diversity among all animals. The famous biologist and author E.O. Wilson estimates the total number of existing species close to 7 millions (only ~20% of these have actually been described) in his recent book Half-Earth – a great read if you are interested in finding out what it takes to preserve the diversity of animals and plants on planet Earth.
Sea anemones are animals and they are close relatives of jellyfish and corals, all members of the phylum Cnidaria. You may know anemones for their close relation with clownfish, the small orange, black and white fish that make their home within the sea anemones’ tentacles. But these are not the only symbionts living with anemones; some species of crustaceans also use the tentacles for protection.
Symbionts are animals or plants that live closely together. In mutualisms, the symbionts each benefit from this close proximity. For example, clownfish clean the anemones of parasites, the stinging tentacles of the anemone provide protection to the clownfish – watch some clownfish in their sea anemone habitat during your next visit at the aquarium at the Columbus Zoo!
Some symbionts only exist with one particular other species, these are called host specialists. Other symbionts can live with a wide range of species, you guessed right, these are called host generalists.
About the Author: Angelika Nelson is the social media manager at the Museum of Biological Diversity, here in an interview with Benjamin Titus, PhD candidate in Meg Daly’s Laboratory of Marine Invertebrate Diversity at the Ohio State University.
About the Author: Dr. Meg Daly is Professor in the department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, director of the Museum of Biological Diversity and leads the laboratory of marine invertebrate diversity at OSU. She and her students study systematics of cnidaria, sea anemones, jellyfish and their like.
