Ecophysiological behaviour of different diatoms in response to copepod signals

Phytoplanktonic communities have been moulded from a higher level in the food web by zooplankton predation. Diatoms, which are the major primary producers in present day oceans, have evolved many strategies to thrive in the presence of copepods, their predators. Chemical signals are released in the aquatic environment by microarthropods and elicit morphological, behavioural and/or physiological modifications in diatom cells which allow them to cope with predators. Other than the most studied effects of copepod signals on the release of toxins by diatoms, the role of chemical cues on growth and biology of non-toxic diatoms has been little investigated, although it may broaden our knowledge of co-evolutive physiological mechanisms. To examine the response of diatoms to copepod-derived signals, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Chaetoceros muelleri and Cylindrotheca fusiformis (Bacillariophyceae) were grown in the presence of copepod cues. Physiological modifications occurred and differed in sign and magnitude between species: i) in P. tricornutum cell density was higher, and dry weight lower, suggesting energy allocation into cell division at the expense of lipid and protein quotas; ii) C. muelleri showed a very homeostatic behaviour; and iii) in C. fusiformis cell density was lower and lipid content higher, showing energy allocation into lipids, which likely act as deterrent to feeders. Copepod cues are here suggested to have ruled diatom species composition in the ocean by affecting species-specific growth performance and the energy allocation into macromolecules.