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Western Washington University

Shannon Point Marine Center Faculty Publications

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Fucus

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Effects Of Nutrient Enrichment On Growth And Phlorotannin Production In Fucus Gardneri Embryos, Kathryn L. Van Alstyne Dr., Karen N. Pelletreau Nov 2000

Effects Of Nutrient Enrichment On Growth And Phlorotannin Production In Fucus Gardneri Embryos, Kathryn L. Van Alstyne Dr., Karen N. Pelletreau

Shannon Point Marine Center Faculty Publications

Resource-allocation models predict trade-offs between growth and chemical defense. The carbon/nutrient balance hypothesis (CNBH) predicts that plants will allocate carbon to growth when nutrients are abundant and allocate it to carbon-based antiherbivore defenses when nutrients are limiting. In marine systems, field and laboratory tests of the CNBH with phlorotannin-producing algae have generally supported the predictions of the model. However, these tests have all measured phlorotannin concentrations in adult algae rather than juveniles, which are susceptible to higher


Herbivore Grazing Increases Polyphenolic Defenses In The Intertidal Brown Alga Fucus Distichus, Kathryn L. Van Alstyne Dr. Jun 1988

Herbivore Grazing Increases Polyphenolic Defenses In The Intertidal Brown Alga Fucus Distichus, Kathryn L. Van Alstyne Dr.

Shannon Point Marine Center Faculty Publications

Although predator-induced defenses have been reported for several species of terrestrial vascular plants, they have not been previously described in aquatic or nonvascular plants. In this study, field manipulations were used to demonstrate the presence of inducible chemical defense production in the intertidal brown alga Fucus distich us. When experimentally damaged, Fucus increased its concentrations of polyphenolic compounds by ≈20% over uninjured control plants within 2 wk. These increases occurred in the area where the plant was injured and within adjacent undamaged branches. The increase in concentrations of polyphenolic compounds in clipped plants in these experiments corresponded well with differences …