Energy flow in Foraminifera: from empirical to theoretical models

Autor(en)

Jaroslaw Tyszka, Annekatrin Enge, Petra Heinz, Emanuelle Geslin, Jan Golen, Johann Hohenegger, Maciej Komosinski, Agnieszka Mensfelt, Hidetaka Nomaki, Sebastian Rokitta, Silke Thoms, Pawel Topa, Takashi Toyofuku, Manuel Weinkauf, Julia Wukovits

Abstrakt

Foraminifers as organisms are open systems with a dissipative structure. We review crucial aspects of energy exchange between individual foraminifers and their microhabitats. Understanding the energy flow between the foraminiferal system and the environment is essential to unravel its complexity and adaptability to environmental changes. Energetic efficiency of individuals critically depends on their size and shape determined by development and controlled by dynamic changes in gene expression. Most foraminiferal cells are relatively large in comparison to other eukaryotic cells and often reach the size of smaller metazoans. In consequence, foraminifera face the same supply
problem as multicellular organisms due to their low surface-to-volume ratio. The solution to this limitation was a major evolutionary innovation in metabolic design based on space-filling fractal networks, such as respiratory, circulatory systems in animals or vascular systems in plants. Foraminifera as unicellular organisms could not build multicellular veins, nevertheless, their cytoskeleton organization evolved into granuloreticulopodia. This special anastomosing fractal network highly enhances the surface/volume ratio and allows flexible regulation of ion exchange between the cell and its microenvironment. This gives us the unique opportunity to establish the group of foraminifera as model organisms for metabolic energy fluxes. We discuss metabolic adaptations of foraminifera associated with feeding, dispersal, and life history strategies. This empirical knowledge is used for the construction and development of mathematical and simulation models of organisms to test energetic, behavioural and evolutionary patterns. The research received support from the Polish National Science Centre (DEC-2013/09/B/ST10/01734).

Organisation(en)

Institut für Paläontologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Poznan University of Technology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Universität Genf, AGH University of Science and Technology, Université d'Angers

Seiten

63

Anzahl der Seiten

1

Publikationsdatum

2017

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105118 Paläontologie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/7483a3f2-3180-4c96-9f0a-5863efca686a