Chemical Communication Among Marine Zooplankton

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Chemically mediated interactions among marine animals are thought to regulate many important ecological processes. The nature of chemical signals, their interaction with the aqueous medium, and the mechanisms of reception by tuned receivers are unknown for virtually all marine animals. Mate recognition is a major regulatory point in marine invertebrate reproductive cycles because it is when males and females make evolutionarily significant choices about investing their gametes. The overall goal of this project is to investigate how male and female zooplankton communicate and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of this interaction. The research will attempt to describe the biochemical features of a sex pheromone shown to be responsible for mate recognition in rotifers. The research will investigate the biochemical basis for its species-specificity and how variable the pheromone is within and between populations. Ultimately, the research will provide insight to how changes in this molecule promote reproductive isolation among populations and determine the direction of evolution. A system similar to the contact chemoreception mate recognition system of rotifers has ben described in copepods. The role of surface glycoproteins in copepod chemoreception will be explored using the same lectin probes that have proven useful in rotifers. By comparing rotifer and copepod mate recognition systems, we may begin to understand the generality of contact chemoreception in zooplankton mating.