Abstract The distribution and reproductive cycle of the sponge Halichondria okadai were investigated at Peng-Hu from June, 2000 to February, 2002. The sponge population was mostly distributed in the midlittoral zone. The size of sponges increased or decreased in the range of 33.3% ~ -16.7%. The substrata were mainly composed by grains with sizes of 0.12~0.84 mm. The sponge is gonochorism. Early stage oocytes were found in March. Mature eggs and embryos were observed from April to September, with a peak period from June to August. The reproductive season extends from March through September which is correlated to annual changes of water temperature. The size of embryos ranged from 260 to 450£gm and the density was up to 1331 per (0.5 cm)3 in May. To our knowledge, the embryo density is the highest one in the sponge group. Juveniles settled in the back side of rocks. When the juveniles moved to the rock surface, the color changed from white to black.

No description available.

<p> A detailed study of sponge boring morphotypes within the molluscan fauna of Upper Cretaceous estuarine sediments near Drumheller, Alberta provides information relevant to the depositional environment. Problems with regard to utilizing Entobia as a paleoenvironmental indicator and as an indicator of salinity do not appear to be insurmountable.</p> <p> Distributions and characteristics of associated marine organisms (phoronid worms, gastropods and encrusting bryozoa) suggest that sponge colonies were affected by salinity and sedimentation. Boring networks in Ostrea glabra suggest that more than one species of sponge were present. Sponge distribution patterns, changes in papilla and chamber sizes and preferential occurrence of sponge borings on certain shell thicknesses provide good evidence for responses to salinity and sedimentation.</p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Bioerosion is a major process that affects the carbonate balance on coral reefs, and excavating sponges from the genus Cliona are some of the most important bioeroders on Caribbean reefs. The orange boring sponge, Cliona delitrix, is an abundant excavating sponge offshore southeast Florida that frequently colonizes dead portions of live stony corals, killing live coral tissue as it grows. With the recent decline in coral cover attributed to combined environmental and anthropogenic stressors, the increasing abundance of excavating sponges poses yet another threat to the persistence of Caribbean coral reefs. In the first part of this study, I explored distributional patterns of C. delitrix offshore southeast Florida and compared yearly sponge growth/corresponding coral tissue loss rates across habitats of different depths. C. delitrix densities and growth rates were significantly higher on the outer reef, where coral colonies also showed some of the fastest tissue retreat rates. More sponge individuals were found on sites with higher coral densities, likely resulting from the higher availability of preferred coral skeleton substrate. C. delitrix showed a clear preference for boulder stony coral species, which could alter the coral community composition in the future and allow an increase in branching and foliose species. The growth rates of C. delitrix offshore southeast Florida are slower compared to rates from other locations, likely a result of intense fouling of the coral-sponge interface by other spatial reef competitors. These results suggest that outer reef sites with high boulder coral density offshore southeast Florida are most vulnerable to C. delitrix colonization and may continue to suffer the greatest impacts of coral bioerosion. Excavating sponges are also strong competitors for space on coral reefs; able to colonize, excavate, and kill entire live stony corals. Despite the known negative effects of excavating sponges on stony corals very few studies have experimentally tested the competitive nature of this interaction. In the second part of this study, I examined the effect of manual removal of the excavating sponge, Cliona delitrix (Pang 1973), on tissue loss of the stony coral Montastrea cavernosa (Linnaeus 1767), and its possibility as a restoration technique. A total of 33 M. cavernosa colonies colonized by small C. delitrix sponges (up to 10 cm in diameter) were examined. Sponges were removed using a hammer and chisel from 22 of the affected colonies, and 11 colonies were left alone as controls. After sponge removal, the resultant cavities in the coral skeletons were filled to minimize future colonization by other bioeroders and promote coral tissue growth over the excavation. Cement was used as fill material on 11 of the colonies, and the remaining 11 cavities were filled with epoxy. Standardized photos of each colony were taken immediately, at 6 months and 12 months after sponge removal. Results show a significant reduction in coral tissue loss in colonies where sponge was removed, and both fill materials performed similarly reducing coral tissue loss. I also found that a majority of experimental corals showed no return of C. delitrix to the colony surface a year after removal. This study demonstrates that eliminating the bioeroding sponge competitor may promote recovery of the affected stony coral. Additionally, the sponge removal technique can be applied to any stony coral colonized by C. delitrix to preserve, or at least slow the loss of, remaining live tissue.

The Intermountain West is comprised of impressive land formations, numerous ecoregions, and a unique biota. The area has many flora and fauna that have been investigated, but the region is generally considered undersampled when it comes to insects. However, I propose the matter to be a lack of shared experience in identifying key insect species and the underutilization of professional and personal collections. These impediments are highlighted by two insect groups in the Intermountain West: spongillaflies and tiger moths.Spongillaflies can be difficult to recognize for the general entomologist and have rarely been recorded in the Intermountain West. My colleagues and I recently discovered a large population of spongillaflies in Utah that we present as a substantial additional record. I also followed the population throughout the 2016 field season to make natural history observations. I identified the spongillaflies to be Climacia californica and their associated host to be Ephydatia fluviatilis. During the season, a total of 1,731 specimens were collected, light traps were the most effective sampling technique and the population had one mass emergence event. I hope my work and figures will help investigators as they continue to search the area for spongillaflies. Tiger moths on the other hand have largely been collected in the Intermountain West and are easily recognized, generally being brightly colored. Because of these bright colors, they attract collectors and have been sampled heavily throughout the Intermountain West. However, until now, these records have not been utilized and tucked away in collections. We took the vast amount of records and used them to create predicted models of biogeography for each tiger moth species in the area. We successfully created species level ecological niche models (ENM) analyzing environmental variables such as temperature, precipitation, elevation, and vegetation. Overall, I found tiger moths can be collected almost everywhere and during each month of the year with 93 different species scattered across the region. I anticipate our ENM models to help researchers locate tiger moths of interest to investigate within the Intermountain West.During my studies, I investigated in detail the lichen feeding tiger moths (Lithosiini). Many tiger moths eat toxic plants, but only a few in the area consume lichen, an unusual host because of their secondary defensive chemicals. I investigated how these chemicals impacted Cisthene angelus caterpillars host selection by simultaneously offering them various lichens with differing chemistries. I expected these caterpillars to avoid usnic acid as it deterred other lichen feeding tiger moths. However, these caterpillars surprised me by consistently consuming the acid and being largely polyphagous. Our future work will be directed at how caterpillars balance nutritional needs and the chemicals they sequester.

As technologies advance the study of ocean dynamics, new approaches to vexing problems of scale and process are becoming more widely available. Originally conceived as a tool primarily for indexing the abundance of near-bottom fishes, the Camera-based Assessment and Survey System (C-BASS) may also be an effective tool for monitoring benthic invertebrate resources vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic perturbations, and for characterizing the composition of benthic communities to inform spatial management. Using still images derived from the C-BASS video of benthic transects within the Florida Middle Grounds, I documented the abundance of benthic habitat-forming functional groups—sponges, algae, and corals—and noted taxa that were present in a SCUBA and ROV study conducted a decade earlier. Images were pre-processed using MATLAB computer programming language to correct for light attenuation and scattering in seawater at depth, and examined using ImageJ software and Coral Point Count software or rapid visual assessment methodology to assess image quality and percent cover, respectively. Exploratory data analysis (dissimilarity profile) delineated five habitat types in the northern Florida Middle Grounds, and discriminating benthic cover was identified using similarity percentage analysis: soft corals, fleshy macroalgae, low-relief algae, encrusted rubble, and sand. Hard corals and sponges represented relatively low area cover. A canonical analysis of principle components of in situ environmental measurements, chlorophyll a, turbidity, salinity, slope, and depth highlighted the association of the sand habitat type with greater depths and least amount of slope. Fleshy macroalgae were associated with greater slope, which reflected its presence in transitional areas between sand and reef. Soft coral habitat type was correlated with shallower depths, but also to lower temperature and lower salinity, highlighting the limitations of one-time environmental measurements to the condition of that time and space. A distance-based redundancy analysis of fish species abundance revealed that sponges, soft corals, and hard corals explained some of the variation of Holocentridae spp., angelfishes, and porgy, and that gray snapper appeared to associate with higher measurements of chlorophyll a. A comparison of C-BASS measurements with a coincidental stationary camera survey revealed that a slight shift in view, either from the seafloor to the water column, or from two slightly different positions in the water column, can obscure or reveal benthic cover to varying degrees, suggesting that more imaging could provide more complete representations of the benthic cover. Continued surveys of the benthic composition of the west Florida shelf could elucidate the range of environmental conditions and facilitate further investigations into the fish species associations with biotic cover in these benthic communities.

This thesis described the chemical investigations of natural products from Australian marine sponge-derived fungi. Sponge samples were collected from the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, by Queensland Museum. The thesis is divided into eight chapters and can be devided into two major parts. The first three chapters comprised the first part of the thesis: Chapter 1 outlined the research background, literature review of marine fungal secondary metabolites; Chapter 2 introduced fungal culture and storage background knowledge, and the list of isolated marine fungal strains. Chapter 3 introduced the background of the thrombin inhibition assay and assay results. The second part (Chapter 4 to 7) of this thesis is focused on chemical isolation and structure elucidation of secondary metabolites from isolated fungal strains, mostly active strains against thrombin. An unidentified fungal strain, FS-G315858 (T)-Y, isolated from the frozen sponge sample Dysidea sp.1400 produced five peptide compounds (chapter 4, 16-20). Compound 16 is a polypeptide which features the same relative configuration with a known compound unguisine A, and compounds 17-20 are diketopiperazines. Active fungal strains FS-G315695 (T)-Y and FDPS-61732-YB were isolated from different sponge samples. However, they were identified to be the identical fungal strain Eurotium rubrum; the chemical isolation of FS-G315695 (T)-Y from its mycelia EtOAc extract resulted in three compounds (chapter 5, 17-19). Compounds 18 and 19 were identified to be flavoglaucin and iso-dihydroauroglaucin. Compound 17 was identified to have the same relative configuration with a known compound neo-echinulin A. The chemical isolation of FDPS-61732-YB from its broth EtOAc extract resulted in several diketopiperazines (chapter 5, 27-29). Another active fungal strain FS-G315695 (T)-WY was identified as Aspergillus ochraceous, the chemical isolation of its mycelia EtOAc extract resulted in one benzodiazepine compound (chapter 6, 18), together with two fatty acids (chapter 6, 16-17). The structure of compound 18 was elucidated and identified to have same relative configuration with the known compound circumdatin E. Media comparison for active fungal strain FS-G315695 (T)-Y was conducted and this work resulted in producing several neo-echinulin analogues (chapter 7, 1-3). The isolation and structure elucidation of these compounds were reported in chapter 7.

Sponges are filter feeders that lack nerves and muscle but are nonetheless able to respond to changes in the ambient environment to control their feeding current. Cellular sponges undergo coordinated contractions that effectively expel debris. Syncytial sponges propagate action potentials through their tissue, causing immediate flagellar arrest. Understanding the basis of this coordination in sponges is of interest for the insight it provides on mechanisms of coordination in early branching animals. However, when I began this thesis no ion channels had been described from the Porifera. I adopted a multifaceted approach to studying the conduction system of sponges. This included cloning and characterizing potassium channels as a means to understanding the underlying ionic currents, and monitoring regulation of the sponge feeding current in response to environmental stimuli. The latter experiments provided a functional context. The glass sponges Rhabdocalyptus dawsoni and Aphrocallistes vastus arrest feeding in response to mechanical disturbance and to sediment in the incurrent water suggesting a protective role. Monitoring patterns of feeding current arrests also revealed several features of the glass sponge conduction system: pacemaker activity, mechanosensitivity, distinct excitability thresholds, and tolerance to repeated stimuli. With access to the genome of the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica I have also cloned and characterized the first sponge ion channels. Inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channels were prioritized for their role in regulating excitability. Kir channels cloned from A. queenslandica shared critical residues and a strong rectifying phenotype with Kir channels typically expressed in excitable cells. A variety of potassium channels from A. queenslandica indicate great diversity and a foundation for coordination at the dawn of the Metazoa / Physiology, Cell and Developmental Biology

The glass sponge reefs of western Canada are modern analogues to ancient reefs and are unique habitats requiring conservation. However, the patterns and processes of the glass sponges have not been empirically studied. Here, I characterized the biology of the glass sponges in their reefs. I examined the community structure of the sponges at 3 reefs in the Strait of Georgia (SOG), their role in silica cycling, and the stable isotopes (13C and 15N) of the reef forming sponge Aphrocallistes vastus. Sponges are spatially structured in patches which localize the abundance of other animals. Long term dissolution of spicules is negligible and thus a reef can be considered a silica sink. Lastly, isotope compositions can differentiate populations of A. vastus and depleted carbon signatures at 2 reefs suggest a terrestrial component in their diet. My work represents the biological baseline of 3 glass sponge reefs in the SOG. / Ecology

The encrusting sponge Terpios hoshinota is a cyanobacteriosponge with symbiotic photosynthetic cyanobacteria. It covers live corals causing their death. Corals at Green Island were suspected to be infected by Terpios hoshinota in 2006, and field investigations indicated there was massive propagation of the species in both Green Island (Lyudao) and Orchid Island (Lanyu) in 2008 to 2010. We propose two hypotheses, either by Self-Seeding or by Long-Range Dispersal, that explain the fast propagation of Terpios hoshinota in the islands offshore of southeastern of Taiwan. We use ribosomal DNA and mitochondria DNA as molecular markers to investigate how the sponge disperses locally and in a greater geographic scale. A total of 110 samples, from Taiwan: Green Island, Orchid Island, and Kenting (Wanlitong). Japan: Okinawa, Nakijin, Miyako, Bise, Shiraho, Arahama Kumeshima, Yakomo (Okinoerabu), San (Takunoshima), and Xisha Island of China, were collected. Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) from ribosomal DNA and cytochrome oxidase I (COI) from mitochondria DNA are used as markers to infer population structure of Terpios hoshinota. No genetic variation within COI sequence over all sponges from Taiwan to Japan and China was found, although the only sponge sample from Wanlitong in Kenting had three variable sites, which suggest different species of Terpios hoshinota. Based on ITS2 analysis, haplotype diversity (h) is commonly high among most populations, but with different single haplotype found at Green Island and Arahama (Japan). Pairwise population differentiations (FST) are usually high and significant among populations supporting self-seeding, although Bise, Shiraho and Lanyu populations showed no significant differentiation that supports long-range dispersal. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) shows no population subdivision; however, genetic differentiations among populations are significantly greater than within populations. TCS analysis indicates that single haplotype in Green Island is originated from Lanyu, and populations in Bise are widely dispersed over other sponge populations in Taiwan and Japan regions. By evidence of TCS analysis with nucleotide diversity, haplotype diversity and field investigation, Bise is the origin of Terpios hoshinota among populations within this study. Frequency of sequence haplotypes indicates one dominant haplotype is shared among most of the sponge populations, and the dominated sponge haplotype takes highest proportions of local populations. The existence of dominant haplotype may result from better dispersal or reproduction ability than other haplotype in populations. Nested clade analysis shows that populations mainly have restricted gene flow with some clade have contiguous range expansion. We suggest that populations of Terpios hoshinota propagate mainly by self-seeding method with occasional long-range dispersal event that leading to genetic connection among populations and obscuring evidence of isolation by distance in these populations. In Green Island, we consider local populations as undergoing explosion within past several years and propagate by self-seeding method coming from single lineage of Lanyu. Populations in Lanyu may come from Bise, Shiraho, and Yakomo, yet may still in status of population explosion. Populations in Japan may underwent founder effect with rapid population growth, while most populations are rarely interact with each other showing deep genetic differentiation among islands, and Bise is the origin of Terpios hoshinota in this study. Not all of the sponge individuals have ability to dominate local populations, expect for one special haplotype of Terpios hoshinota is capable of dominating local population in both range and quantity, which also has capability of spreading across islands as larger distances than its habitats range in Taiwan and Japan.