![]() ![]() defense against predation, fouling or pathogen attack. Studies in the field of marine chemical ecology focus on chemically mediated ecological interactions and revealed a pronounced bioactivity of many sponge compounds, e.g. Marine natural products research has been driven mainly by pharmacological screening programs, which aim at the discovery of new chemical structures with pharmacological activity, neglecting the ecological functions of these compounds. Since then more than 5300 chemical compounds have been described in sponges. Already in the 1950s it was discovered that sponges yield a wide array of biologically active secondary metabolites. Sponges and other sessile invertebrates are lacking behavioural escape or defense mechanisms and rely therefore on morphological or chemical defenses. Our results suggest that wounding selects for induced antimicrobial defenses to protect sponges from pathogens that could otherwise invade the sponge tissue via feeding scars. Simulated predation increased the antimicrobial defenses in Aplysinella sp., Cacospongia sp., M. Interestingly, 50% of the tested sponge species demonstrated induced antimicrobial defense. sarasinorum, also showed activated defense in response to wounding. Two species, Stylissa massa and Melophlus sarasinorum, induced defenses in response to simulated predation, which is the first demonstration of induced antipredatory defenses in marine sponges. Laboratory experiments with eight pacific sponge species showed that 87% of the tested species were chemically defended. Additionally, we tested if these mechanisms are also used to boost antimicrobial activity to avoid bacterial infection. ![]() We investigated whether tropical sponge species induce defenses in response to artificial predation and whether wounding triggers defense activation. However, inducible defenses in sponges have not been investigated so far and studies on activated defenses are rare. Studies from terrestrial systems and marine algae demonstrated facultative defenses like induction and activation to be common, suggesting that sessile marine organisms also evolved mechanisms to increase the efficiency of their chemical defense. ![]()
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