The Energetics of Asexual Reproduction and Colony Formation in Benthic Marine Invertebrates

Abstract

There are several formsof individual and colon) organization available to benthic marine invertebrates with indeterminate growth In particular anthozoan coelenterates exhibit three such forms of organization 1 solitary individuals without asexual reproduction 2 colonies or clonal groups with determinate polyp size and indeterminate colony size and 3 colonies or clonal groups with both indeterminate polyp size and indeterminatecolony or clone size The last group includes species where asexual reproduction is continuous and those where it is limited to a single season of the year A model is presented which defines three optimal sizes for indeterminately growing organisms 1 optimal size for a solitary individual 2 optimal size of a polyp within a colony and 3 optimal size at asexual division The optima are derived by maximizing the difference between energy intake and energetic cost Simulations allow prey size and habitat quality to vary and derive predictions of optimal size and organization for each case Individual and clonal growth rates are modelled for the case where asexual reproduction is limited to a single season and poly p sizes within clones are compared The model predicts that the three torms of organization among anthozoan polyps are related primarily to the size distribution of prey