AUTHOR=Morley Simon A. , Berman Jade , Barnes David K. A. , de Juan Carbonell Carlos , Downey Rachel V. , Peck Lloyd S. TITLE=Extreme Phenotypic Plasticity in Metabolic Physiology of Antarctic Demosponges JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution VOLUME=3 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2015.00157 DOI=10.3389/fevo.2015.00157 ISSN=2296-701X ABSTRACT=
Seasonal measurements of the metabolic physiology of four Antarctic demosponges and their associated assemblages, maintained in a flow through aquarium facility, demonstrated one of the largest differences in seasonal strategies between species and their associated sponge communities. The sponge oxygen consumption measured here exhibited both the lowest and highest seasonal changes for any Antarctic species; metabolic rates varied from a 25% decrease to a 5.8 fold increase from winter to summer, a range which was greater than all 17 Antarctic marine species (encompassing eight phyla) previously investigated and amongst the highest recorded for any marine environment. The differences in nitrogen excretion, metabolic substrate utilization and tissue composition between species were, overall, greater than seasonal changes. The largest seasonal difference in tissue composition was an increase in CHN (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen) content in