The Biological Bulletin, Vol 198, Issue 2 168-187, Copyright © 2000 by Marine Biological Laboratory

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Chemical signaling processes in the marine environment

RK Zimmer and CA Butman
Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1606, USA.

Understanding the mechanisms by which environmental chemical signals, chemical defenses, and other chemical agents mediate various life-history processes can lead to important insights about the forces driving the ecology and evolution of marine systems. For chemical signals released into the environment, establishing the principles that mediate chemical production and transport is critical for interpreting biological responses to these stimuli within appropriate natural, historical contexts. Recent technological advancements provide outstanding opportunities for new discoveries, thus allowing quantification of interactions between hydrodynamic, chemical, and biological factors at numerous spatial and temporal scales. Past work on chemically mediated processes involving organisms and their environment have emphasized habitat colonization by larvae and trophic relationships. Future research priorities should include these topics as well as courtship and mating, fertilization, competition, symbiosis, and microbial chemical ecology. There are now vast new opportunities for determining how organisms respond to chemical signals and employ chemical defenses under environmentally realistic conditions. Integrating these findings within a larger ecological and evolutionary framework should lead to improved understanding of natural physicochemical phenomena that constrain biological responses at the individual, population, and community levels of organization.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. K. Zimmer and R. P. Ferrer Neuroecology, Chemical Defense, and the Keystone Species Concept Biol. Bull., December 1, 2007; 213(3): 208 - 225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. A. Riffell and R. K. Zimmer Sex and flow: the consequences of fluid shear for sperm egg interactions J. Exp. Biol., October 15, 2007; 210(20): 3644 - 3660. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. P. Ferrer and R. K. Zimmer Chemosensory reception, behavioral expression, and ecological interactions at multiple trophic levels J. Exp. Biol., May 15, 2007; 210(10): 1776 - 1785. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. C. Wyeth and A. O. D. Willows Odours detected by rhinophores mediate orientation to flow in the nudibranch mollusc, Tritonia diomedea J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2006; 209(8): 1441 - 1453. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. C. Wyeth, O. M. Woodward, and A. O. D. Willows Orientation and Navigation Relative to Water Flow, Prey, Conspecifics, and Predators by the Nudibranch Mollusc Tritonia diomedea Biol. Bull., April 1, 2006; 210(2): 97 - 108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. L. Swanson, J. E. Williamson, R. De Nys, N. Kumar, M. P. Bucknall, and P. D. Steinberg Induction of Settlement of Larvae of the Sea Urchin Holopneustes purpurascens by Histamine From a Host Alga Biol. Bull., June 1, 2004; 206(3): 161 - 172. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. C. Buresch, J. G. Boal, G. T. Nagle, J. Knowles, R. Nobuhara, K. Sweeney, and R. T. Hanlon Experimental Evidence That Ovary and Oviducal Gland Extracts Influence Male Agonistic Behavior in Squids Biol. Bull., February 1, 2004; 206(1): 1 - 3. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]