Abstract
To evaluate the thermal resistance of marine invertebrates to elevated temperatures under scenarios of future climate change, it is crucial to understand parental effect of long acclimatization on thermal tolerance of offspring. To test whether there is parental effect of long acclimatization, adult sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus) from the same broodstock were transplanted southward and acclimatized at high temperature in field mesocosms. Four groups of juvenile sea cucumbers whose parents experienced different durations of high temperature acclimatization were established. Upper thermal limits, oxygen consumption and levels of heat shock protein mRNA of juveniles was determined to compare thermal tolerance of individuals from different groups. Juvenile sea cucumbers whose parents experienced high temperature could acquire high thermal resistance. With the increase of parental exposure duration to high temperature, offspring became less sensitive to high temperature, as indicated by higher upper thermal limits (LT50), less seasonal variations of oxygen consumption, and stable oxygen consumption rates between chronic and acute thermal stress. The relatively high levels of constitutive expression of heat-shock proteins should contribute to the high thermal tolerance. Together, these results indicated that the existence of a parental effect of long acclimatization would increase thermal tolerance of juveniles and change the thermal sensitivity of sea cucumber to future climate change.
Highlights
Environmental alterations related to global change have significant impacts on biodiversity and on many aspects of community and ecosystem functioning [1,2,3]
Qingdao is the natural range of sea cucumber A. japonicus, and Xiapu, ~1000 km away from the southern limit of natural distribution of this species is the main region for north-to-south sea cucumber culture
Xiapu can be regarded as an appropriate location to evaluate the impact of future climate change on the marine invertebrate that naturally occurs in northern China
Summary
Environmental alterations related to global change have significant impacts on biodiversity and on many aspects of community and ecosystem functioning [1,2,3]. The resilience and resistance of ecosystem function to perturbations are closely related to organisms’ phenotypic plasticity in both temporal and spatial scales [4,5,6]. Besides fixed effects (local adaptation), local acclimatization contributes importantly to heat tolerance, as recently shown for reef coral resistance to future increases in sea temperature [7]. It is crucial to investigate the impacts of acclimatization on the resilience and resistance to changing environments.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
