ArticleBMC ecology2017
Predator cues reduce intraspecific trait variability in a marine dinoflagellate.
Article in BMC ecology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fear of grazing rivals the toxin-inducing effects of nutrients in two marine harmful algae - a meta-analysis.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Pooled it
- High-resolution multiomics links nutrients and mixotrophy to toxicity in a harmful bloom of the haptophyteScience advances · 2025Article
- What Does It Mean to Be(Come) Arctic? Functional and Genetic Traits of Arctic- and Temperate-Adapted Diatoms.Global change biology · 2025Article
- Predator-induced defence in a dinoflagellate generates benefits without direct costs.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Ecophysiological Aspects andToxins · 2021Article
- The Genetic Basis of Toxin Biosynthesis in Dinoflagellates.Microorganisms · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhenotypic plasticity is commonplace and enables an organism to respond to variations in the environment. Plastic responses often modify a suite of traits and can be triggered by both abiotic and biotic changes. Here we analysed the plastic response towards a grazer of two genotypes of the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense, evaluated the similarity of this response and discuss potential strain-specific trade-offs. We compared the expression of the known inducible defensive traits paralytic shellfish toxin content, and chain length. The effectiveness of the induced defense was assessed by monitoring grazing rates in both strains.
resultsOur results show that the grazer cues diminish phenotypic variability in a population by driving the phenotype towards a common defended morphotype. We further showed that the expression of the sxtA gene that initiates the paralytic shellfish toxin biosynthesis pathway does not correlate with an observed increase in the paralytic shellfish toxin analogue saxitoxin, and that toxin induction differs in its physiological characteristics in both strains.
conclusionInduced defense response in Alexandrium thus can directly affect further species interactions by reducing phenotypic variation and can result in genotype-dependent ecological trade-offs.
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Registered trials
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