Nicole S. Webster presents: How is sponge symbiosis impacted by a changing environment?", wednesday 19th February at 9.15 am, in the auditorium of the (first floor, building Institutes) Science and Technology Park

Abstract

Marine sponges contain complex and diverse microbial communities that contribute to the health of their hosts. This presentation will provide an overview of the diversity and specificity of microbial associations in sponges and highlight some of the symbiotic functions currently being uncovered by the application of next generation sequencing. Environmental conditions which disturb the distribution, abundance or function of sponge microbes can have significant consequences for host fitness and survival. Climate change scenarios predict increases in sea surface temperatures and decreases in oceanic pH during the coming century. A combination of experimental research and data from sponges collected at natural CO2 seeps is used to explore the impacts of elevated SST and OA on sponge microbial symbiosis. Functional changes observed in the early stages of thermal stress suggest that whilst symbionts persist in the host during this time, they no longer carry out normal symbiotic functions. This breakdown of symbiotic function impacts upon the sponge holobiont ultimately resulting in a necrotic phenotype. Similarly, declines in reef water quality and anthropogenic pollution can alter the delicate balance within the sponge holobiont. The sensitivity of sponges and their symbionts to these anthropogenic stressors is being assessed in experimental systems and results indicate that maintenance of stable symbiont communities is intimately linked to host health. The application of genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to these model marine symbioses allows us to explore the functional implications of environmental stress for sponges and thereby better predict how they will acclimate and adapt to a changing climate.