Palatability and Chemical Defenses of Macroalgae in the Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

AbstractWe examined palatability of 37 species of nonencrusting macroalgae from the Antarctic Peninsula. This represents approximately 30% of the entire antarctic macroalgal flora and 75% of the 49 nonencrusting species we collected. Organic extracts from most species were also prepared and mixed into artificial foods. We examined palatability using feeding bioassays with three common, macroalga‐consuming animals (an omnivorous antarctic rockfish, Notothenia coriiceps; an omnivorous sea star, Odontaster validus; and a herbivorous amphipod, Gondogenia antarctica). Thallus pieces from 23 of 34 macroalgal species tested with the fish (68%) were rejected. Of the 23 species rejected as thallus, organic extracts of 16 were bioassayed using the fish with 9 (56%) unpalatable. Thallus pieces from 21 of 36 macroalgal species tested with the sea star (58%) were rejected. Of the 21 species rejected as thallus, organic extracts of 20 were bioassayed using the sea stars and 14 (70%) were unpalatable. Overall, 28 of the 37 species assayed as thallus (76%) were rejected by either or both the fish and sea stars. The amphipod assay was not suitable for use with thallus but was utilized with organic extracts of 23 macroalgal species that were rejected as thallus by either or both the fish and sea stars. Of these, 14 (61%) of the species' extracts were rejected by the amphipods. Unpalatability was highest among the brown algae examined with only an ephemeral, ectocarpoid species not rejected as thallus out of 10 species tested. Of the remaining nine brown algal species, six of seven tested were also unpalatable as extracts, including all the ecologically dominant, perennial species in the area. We conclude that unpalatability to herbivores is common in antarctic macroalgae and that chemical defenses may play an important role in the unpalatability of many algal species (NSF OPP9814538, OPP9901076).