spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Edlund, A. F.
Right arrow Articles by Koehl, M. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Edlund, A. F.
Right arrow Articles by Koehl, M. A.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 201, Issue 16 2397-2402, Copyright © 1998 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Adhesion and reattachment of compound ascidians to various substrata: weak glue can prevent tissue damage

AF Edlund and MA Koehl
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA. annaff@uclink.berkeley.edu

Sessile, soft-bodied, compound ascidians are successful competitors for substrata in crowded benthic and epibiotic marine communities and can be effective colonists of new sites, through adult rafting and reattachment. Adhesion to the substratum is essential for these ecologically important functions; we therefore studied the material properties of colony attachment to various substrata in the rafting ascidians Botrylloides sp. We found that, compared with the strength of the colony tissues, the glue attaching Botrylloides sp. to the substratum is very weak. This relative weakness may protect the soft-bodied colonies from damage if they are ripped from their host. For sessile animals, such a weak-glue 'strategy' is only effective if the animals can later reattach to a substratum. By detaching Botrylloides sp. colonies from host eelgrass blades and allowing them to reattach, before measuring peel strengths, we learned that the initial reattachment of a colony depends upon rapid new growth of the colony rather than on fresh secretion of glue beneath old zooids. We also found that the propagation peel force necessary to remove Botrylloides sp. from different substrata (e.g. mussel shells, barnacle basal plates or eelgrass blades) depends upon the surface texture of the host. Thus, the overall tenacity of a colony is affected by the types of substrata that it overgrows.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
M. Koehl
Ecological biomechanics of benthic organisms: life history, mechanical design and temporal patterns of mechanical stress
J. Exp. Biol., January 12, 1999; 202(23): 3469 - 3476.
[Abstract] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1998