Rodney D. Roberts's research while affiliated with Cawthron Institute and other places

... Coral settlement is fundamental to the recovery of coral reef ecosystems after disturbance (Nathan and Muller-Landau 2000;Doropoulos et al. 2015), and coral larvae are capable of sensing environmental cues to find an ideal substrate on the reef (Tran and Hadfield 2013). Crustose coralline algae (CCA) play a role in the production of settlement cues for various marine organisms, such as sponges (Whalan et al. 2012), gorgonians (Lasker and Kim 1996) and mollusks (Roberts et al. 2010). CCA are crucial for coral recruitment (Morse and Morse 1991;Harrington et al. 2004;Webster et al. 2004;Sneed et al. 2014;Gomez-Lemos et al. 2018;Siboni et al. 2020), as numerous coral species do not settle in the absence of CCA (Heyward and Negri 1999). ...

... Moreover, food consumption in postlarvae abalone initially increases exponentially (up to a maximum point) as they grow. Thus, inadequate diets or an inability of the postlarvae to ingest and assimilate nutrients may result in delayed metamorphosis, starvation, slow growth, and ultimately death (Takami et al. 2002, Johnston et al. 2005, Dyck et al. 2010. To increase abalone survival during the weaning stage, farmers around the world have directed their efforts towards the use of (i) mixed diets to meet the feeding and energetic necessities of developing postlarvae , Parker et al. 2007, Hernández et al. 2009) and (ii) selective breeding and abalone hybridization to generate more resistant lineages (Lafarga-de la Cruz and Gallardo-Escárate 2011). ...

... In both Urochordates (ascidians) and Cephalochordates (amphioxus), exogenous THs accelerate larval metamorphosis [52,53]. Studies of the TH-induced larval metamorphosis of abalone Haliotis discus discus and H. gigantea also support a role for the TH signaling pathway in the larval metamorphosis of mollusks [54]. However, although elements of the thyroid system such as thyroid peroxidase and iodothyronine deiodinase genes are present in many bivalve species such as the scallop Chlamys farreri, oyster C. gigas, and abalone H. diversicolor [55][56][57], their function remains largely unknown. ...

... Further transformation of the larval radula includes the growth in the number of teeth to five which is determined by rearrangement and growth in the number of odontoblasts as well as in changes in their shape ( Figure 13). The row, among which lateral and marginal teeth are well identified, which in their shape resemble already adult teeth (Figure 14; Kawamura et al., 2001;Kuehl, 2020;Vortsepneva et al., 2021a). ...

... When postlarvae graze, the radula interacts directly with the diatoms, so radula morphology might be an important factor in diatom ingestibility . Radula development has been characterized in several species of abalone (Johnston et al., 2005;Kawamura et al., 2001;Onitsuka et al., 2004;Roberts et al., 1999b), but has not been described in H. kamtschatkana. Differences in tooth number and rate of development are apparent between abalone species, but the basic process of development is the same: rows of teeth are formed at the posterior end of the radula, and worn teeth are shed from the anterior end (Kawamura et al., 2001;Moss, 1999;Onitsuka et al., 2004;Roberts et al., 1999b;Takami et al., 2006. ...

... Furthermore, coralline algae are predicted to be highly susceptible to these altered conditions, as they precipitate one of the most soluble calcium carbonate polymorphs, high magnesium calcite [6,7]. Coralline algae are important to the functioning of coral reefs as they maintain the structural integrity of reefs by cementing them together, while also providing a number of ecosystem services such as facilitating coral larval settlement [8,9] and providing food for invertebrates [10]. Therefore, if coralline algal survival, growth or reproductive output is reduced by future ocean acidification, these services that are vital to the persistence of coral reefs could be lost. ...

... Settlement and recruitment are key processes in which the planktonic larvae of benthic species must find a suitable site on the benthos to settle and metamorphose to the first post-larval stage (Rodrıǵuez et al., 1993;Jenkins et al., 2009). The loss of the velum, the pediveliger swimming organ, has been used to define the onset of metamorphosis in several marine gastropods (McGee and Targett, 1989;Inestrosa et al., 1992;Searcy-Bernal et al., 1992;Davis, 1994;Roberts and Nicholson, 1997;Gallardo and Sańchez, 2001;Zhao and Qian, 2002;Salas-Garza et al., 2009;Courtois de Vicose et al., 2010), including different limpet species, e.g., P. aspera (Castejón et al., 2022), P. caerulea (Dodd, 1957;Wanninger et al., 1999), P. ferruginea (Guallart et al., 2020b;Ferranti et al., 2022), and P. vulgata (Dodd, 1957;Wanninger et al., 1999). In limpets, teleoconches are another key characteristic whose presence is restricted to post-larvae (Kay and Emlet, 2002;Ferranti et al., 2018;Nakano et al., 2020;Castejoń et al., 2022;Ferranti et al., 2022). ...

... Furthermore, these are natural strategies that organisms and plants adopt to survive to adverse conditions (desiccation and freezing) (Lencioni et al., 2015;Gertrudes et al., 2017). Trehalose and sucrose are two disaccharides that have a positive effect during sperm cryopreservation when used as single or combined cryoprotectants in several species such as ram (Öztürk et al., 2020), stallions (Pérez-Marín et al., 2018), boar (Pezo et al., 2020), stone flounder (Lee et al., 2021), Greenshell TM mussel (Smith et al., 2012a), and Australian flat oyster (Hassan et al., 2017a,b). A previous work developed by our group established several steps for cryopreservation protocol of C. angulata sperm (type of extender, type and concentration of permeant cryoprotectant, type and sperm concentration in package and freezing rate) (Riesco et al., 2017a). ...

... No increased concentration was noted for PAHs, PCBs, and metals in the area with the highest dumping rate, indicating a dispersive nature of the dredged spoil. Different effects such as wind waves, infrequent oceanic swells, and residual currents could result in the dispersion of the contaminated sediment over a larger area (Kettell and Barnett, 1986;Roberts and Forrest, 1999). In the North Sea, wind wave as well as tidal and surge propagation results in a dynamic system in which the dispersion of sediment particles is promoted (Osuna and Monbaliu, 2004). ...

... However, due to their nutritional composition, this diets resulted in different growth performance. Several species of the genus Tetraselmis are frequently used in bivalve hatcheries (Brown et al 1997;Reitan et al 1997;Kawamura et al 1998). Previous studies have shown a performance of Tetraselmis suecica on the growth of Ruditapes decussatus spat (Albentosa et al 1996;Marquez et al 2019). ...