RUI: Assessing the Chemical Defenses of Caribbean Sponges

海绵是海洋底栖生物群落的重要组成部分，特别是在珊瑚礁上。它们组织的有机提取物产生了大量不寻常的化合物，这些化合物不知道与初级代谢有关。这些次生代谢物在实验室分析中具有多种药理作用，但海绵产生它们的原因尚不清楚。最普遍的理论是，这些化合物对潜在的捕食者来说是不愉快的。拟议的研究将对加勒比示范海绵的化学防御进行评估，这一群体的分类和化学性质已经得到了很好的描述。调查将在先前陆生植物和海洋藻类化学生态学研究建立的理论框架内进行。总的来说，这个研究项目代表了热带海洋海绵的化学防御的第一个系统的调查。研究结果将有助于判断基于陆地生态系统研究的最优防御理论的一般适用性。* * *

Pawlik 9314145 Sponges are important components of benthic marine communities, particularly on coral reefs. Organic extracts of their tissues have yielded a wealth of unusual chemical compounds that are not known to be involved in primary metabolism. These secondary metabolites have a diversity of pharmacological effects in laboratory assays, but it is unclear why sponges produce them. The most commonly held theory is that these compounds are distasteful to potential predators. The proposed research will provide an assessment of the chemical defenses of Caribbean demo sponges, a group whose taxonomy and chemistry is fairly well described. The investigation will proceed within a theoretical framework established by previous research on the chemical ecology of terrestrial plants and marine algae. Overall, this research project represents the first systematic investigation of the chemical defenses of tropical marine sponges. The results will be useful in judging the general applicability of optimal defense theories based on studies of terrestrial ecosystems. ***