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Thermal adaptation and physiological responses to environmental stress in tunicates
- Source :
- Aquatic Biology, Vol 26, Pp 179-184 (2017)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Inter-Research Science Center, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Understanding the multifaceted nature of environmental fluctuations is crucial to predicting the physiological adjustments utilised by organisms in resisting or adapting to changes over time. Here we investigate the effects of 2 environmental stressors on tunicates, whose fitness can have important repercussions on the quality of habitat. Specifically, we report respiration rate (RR), clearance rate (CR), and assimilation efficiency (AE) of the ascidian Styela plicata in response to a range of temperatures and varying food availability. Temperature-dependent RR was observed only within a portion of the thermal window of the species. Significant differences in clearance rates were detected among organisms fed with varying algal concentrations, while no significant influence of food concentrations on AE was observed. This plasticity of the physiological rates and the development of ubiquitous mechanisms such as temperature-insensitive aerobic metabolism suggest a competitive advantage of this group. Such knowledge may allow for more accurate predictions of the physiological and evolutionary mechanisms driving current and future distribution of this species.
- Subjects :
- Settore BIO/07 - Ecologia
0106 biological sciences
Ecophysiology
Ecology
QH301-705.5
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Clearance rate, Ecophysiology, Thermal tolerance, Trade-off
Aquatic Science
Biology
Oceanography
Microbiology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Environmental stress
QR1-502
Physiological responses
Biology (General)
Adaptation
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18647790 and 18647782
- Volume :
- 26
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Aquatic Biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c50cb6ea61e1c44623855b1280c08620