Abstract With the potential adverse effects of climate change, it is essential to enhance the understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics, which can be driven by the co-evolutionary interaction between autotrophs and herbivores. This study looked into the autotroph-herbivore interactions in Malaysian waters, mainly to determine if autotroph nutritional quality significantly influences herbivore consumption rates. We documented the relative consumption rate of a generalist herbivore (Chanos chanos Forsskål) obtained from the Straits of Malacca through multiple feeding trials using 12 macroalgal species collected from different coastal areas of the Straits of Malacca, the Straits of Johor, and the South China Sea. The herbivore fed selectively on the tested macroalgal species, with the most and least consumed species having the lowest and highest total nitrogen content, respectively. Besides total nitrogen content, the least consumed species also had the highest total phenolic content. Interestingly, we observed that the herbivore generally preferred to consume filamentous macroalgae, especially those collected from the South China Sea. Overall, our findings demonstrated that the feeding behaviour of a generalist herbivore could be influenced by the nutritional quality of the autotrophs, which may depend directly or indirectly on other factors such as autotroph morphology and geography.

中文翻译：

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探索大型藻类特征对马来西亚水域中多才多艺的食草动物摄食行为的作用

摘要 随着气候变化的潜在不利影响，加强对海洋生态系统动力学的理解至关重要，海洋生态系统动力学可以由自养生物和食草动物之间的共同进化相互作用驱动。这项研究调查了马来西亚水域中自养-食草动物的相互作用，主要是为了确定自养营养质量是否显着影响食草动物的食用率。我们使用从马六甲海峡、柔佛海峡和南海不同沿海地区收集的 12 种大型藻类物种，通过多次饲养试验，记录了从马六甲海峡获得的多面食草动物 (Chanos chanos Forsskål) 的相对消耗率. 食草动物有选择地以被测试的大型藻类为食，消耗最多和最少的物种分别具有最低和最高的总氮含量。除了总氮含量外，消耗最少的物种的总酚含量也最高。有趣的是，我们观察到食草动物通常更喜欢食用丝状大型藻类，尤其是从南海收集的那些。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，多面食草动物的摄食行为可能受到自养生物营养质量的影响，这可能直接或间接取决于其他因素，如自养形态和地理。尤其是从南海采集的那些。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，多面食草动物的摄食行为可能受到自养生物营养质量的影响，这可能直接或间接取决于其他因素，如自养形态和地理。尤其是从南海采集的那些。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，多面食草动物的摄食行为可能受到自养生物营养质量的影响，这可能直接或间接取决于其他因素，如自养形态和地理。