Marcelo González-Aravena

The importance of local settings: within-year variability in seawater temperature at South Bay, Western Antarctic Peninsula

The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has undergone significant changes in air and seawater temperatures during the last 50 years. Although highly stenotherm Antarctic organisms are expected to be severely affected by the increase of seawater temperature, high-resolution datasets of seawater temperature within coastal areas of the WAP (where diverse marine communities have been reported) are not commonly available. Here we report on within-year (2016–2017) variation in seawater temperature at three sites on Doumer Island, Palmer Archipelago, WAP. Within a year, Antarctic organisms in South Bay were exposed to water temperatures in excess of 2 °C for more than 25 days and 2.5 °C for more than 10 days. We recorded a temperature range between −1.7° to 3.0 °C. Warming of seawater temperature was 3.75 times faster after October 2016 than it was before October. Results from this study indicate that organisms at South Bay are already exposed to temperatures that are being used in experimental studies to evaluate physiological responses to thermal stress in WAP organisms. Continuous measurements of short to long-term variability in seawater temperature provides important information for parametrizing meaningful experimental treatments that aim to assess the local effects of environmental variation on Antarctic organisms under future climate scenarios.

Characterization of the neuropeptidome of a Southern Ocean decapod, the Antarctic shrimp Chorismus antarcticus: Focusing on a new decapod ITP-like peptide belonging to the CHH peptide family

As part of the study of the resilience of Antarctic crustaceans to global warming, the shrimp Chorismus antarcticus was subjected to an analysis of global approach using the Next Generation Sequencing Illumina Hi-Seq platform. With this data a detailed study into the principal neuropeptides and neurohormones of this species have been undertaken. Total RNAs from whole animals were enriched with eyestalk extracts to ensure maximum sequencing depth of the different neurohormones and neuropeptides mainly expressed into the X organ-sinus gland complex, which is a major endocrine organ of their synthesis. Apart from the information that can provide the availability of the transcriptome of a polar crustacean, the study of neuropeptides of a caridean shrimp will partially fill the limited data available for this taxon. Illumina sequencing was used to produce a transcriptome of the polar shrimp. Analysis of the Trinity assembled contigs produced 55 pre-pro-peptides, coding for 111 neuropeptides belonging to the following families: adipokinetic-corazonin-like peptide, Allatostatins (A, B et C), Bursicon (α), CCHamide, Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormones (CHH), Crustacean Cardioactive Peptide (CCAP), Corazonin, Crustacean Female Sex Hormone (CSFH), Diuretic Hormones 31 and 45 (DH), Eclosion Hormone (EH), FLRFamide, GSEFLamide, Intocin, Ion Transport Peptide-like (ITP-like), Leucokinin, Molt-inhibiting Hormone, Myosuppresin, Neuroparsin, Neuropeptide F (NPF), Orcokinin, Orcomyotropin, Pigment Dispersing Hormone (PDH), Pyrokinin, Red Pigment Concentrating Hormone (RPCH), SIFamide, small Neuropeptide F (sNPF), Sulfakinin and finally Tachykinin Related peptides. Among the new peptides highlighted in this study, the focus was placed on the peptides of the CHH family and more particularly on a new ITP-like in order to confirm its belonging to a new group of peptides of the family. A phylogeny made from more than 200 sequences of peptides, included new sequences from new species besides Chorismus antarcticus, confirms the peculiarity of this new set of peptides gathered under the name ITP-like.

Sponge richness on algae-dominated rocky reefs in the western Antarctic Peninsula and the Magellan Strait

Sponges are important components of high-latitude benthic communities, but their diversity and abundance in algal-dominated rocky reefs has been underestimated because of the difficulty of in situ identification. Further, the influence of canopy-forming algae on sponge richness has been poorly studied in southern high-latitude rocky reefs compared to other latitudes. Here, we quantified taxon richness of sponges in algae-dominated rocky reefs at three sites in the western Antarctic Peninsula (62–64° S) and two sites in the Magellan region (53° S). We found higher sponge richness at sites in Antarctica (15) than in Magallanes (8), with Antarctic sponge richness higher than that reported for Arctic algal beds and similar to that reported for temperate regions. Estimated sponge richness at our Antarctic sites highlights diverse sponge assemblages (16–26 taxa) between 5 and 20 m that are typically dominated by macroalgae. Our results suggest that sponge assemblages associated with canopy-forming macroalgae on southern high-latitude reefs are more diverse than previously thought.

Warm Temperatures, Cool Sponges: The Effect of Increased Temperatures on the Antarctic Sponge Isodictya sp.

Although the cellular and molecular responses to exposure to relatively high temperatures (acute thermal stress or heat shock) have been studied previously, only sparse empirical evidence of how it affects cold-water species is available. As climate change becomes more pronounced in areas such as the Western Antarctic Peninsula, it has become crucial to understand the capacity of these species to respond to thermal stress. Here we use the Antarctic sponge Isodictya sp. to investigate how sessile organisms (particularly Porifera) can adjust to heat shock, by exposing this species to 3 and 5 °C, corresponding to predicted temperatures under the 2080 IPCC-SRES scenarios. Assembling a de novo reference transcriptome (90,188 contigs, >93.7% metazoan BUSCO cassette) we have discerned the molecular componentry employed by Isodictya to adjust to environmental insult. Our analyses suggest that TGF-β, ubiquitin and hedgehog cascades are involved, alongside other genes. However, the degree and type of response changed little from 3 to 5 °C, suggesting that even moderate rises in temperature could cause stress at the limits of this organism’s capacity. Given the importance of sponges to Antarctic ecosystems, our findings are vital for discerning the consequences of increases in Antarctic ocean temperature on these and other species.

High similarity in the microbiota of cold-water sponges of the Genus Mycale from two different geographical areas

Sponges belonging to genus Mycale are common and widely distributed across the oceans and represent a significant component of benthic communities in term of their biomass, which in many species is largely composed by bacteria. However, the microbial communities associated with Mycale species inhabiting different geographical areas have not been previously compared. Here, we provide the first detailed description of the microbiota of two Mycale species inhabiting the sub-Antarctic Magellan region (53°S) and the Western Antarctic Peninsula (62–64°S), two geographically distant areas (>1,300 km) with contrasting environmental conditions. The sponges Mycale (Aegogropila) magellanica and Mycale (Oxymycale) acerata are both abundant members of benthic communities in the Magellan region and in Antarctica, respectively. High throughput sequencing revealed a remarkable similarity in the microbiota of both sponge species, dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, with both species sharing more than 74% of the OTUs. In contrast, 16% and 10% of the OTUs were found only in either M. magellanica or M. acerata, respectively. Interestingly, despite slight differences in the relative abundance, the most dominant OTUs were present in both species, whereas the unique OTUs had very low abundances (less than 1% of the total abundance). These results show a significant overlap among the microbiota of both Mycale species and also suggest the existence of a low level of specificity of the most dominant symbiont groups.

First characterization of gastrointestinal culturable bacteria of Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides (Nototheniidae)

The Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides is one of the most important fisheries from the Southern Ocean. The biology of this species is relatively well studied and some nutritionals issues have also been reported; however there is no information about the composition of the bacterial community of the gastrointestinal tract, which is essential to characterize the microbiota of this fish. The bacterial flora of D. eleginoides is here described for the first time using culturable methods. By applying traditional culture-based techniques and 16S rDNA sequencing methods it was possible to characterize the families Vibronaceae and Moraxellaceae, which were mainly represented by Vibrio and Psychrobacter, respectively. This Patagonian fish shows a microbiota very similar to other cold waters fishes.