Description
Anthropogenic climate change is causing a domino effect of warming temperatures, increased acidification, and hypoxia – the “deadly trio” of environmental stressors. These stressors have been implicated in every mass extinction, but technical complications have made studying all three difficult in laboratory settings. Using a novel method, we investigated how exposure to two weeks of the “deadly trio” stressors affect the sea anemone, Exaiptasia iaphana and its symbiotic algae, a model system for stony corals. Following two weeks of exposure (based on the IPCC’s worst case scenario), performance tests were conducted to determine metabolic rate, thermal tolerance, and thermal tolerance plasticity. Anemones exposed to the deadly trio showed metabolic depression, which is likely an energy conservation strategy, due to a correlation with increased thermal tolerance. Furthermore, combined exposure of ocean acidification and hypoxia led to enhanced thermal tolerance plasticity, possibly because increased carbon dioxide enhanced photosynthetic activity. Multiple other parameters related to animal/symbiont health and performance were also investigated, but they remained stable across all treatments, indicating a healthy symbiosis and good prognosis for acute exposure to these stressors. Our findings highlight the importance of considering all of the deadly trio stressors in ecophysiological studies and provide a reliable method for examining these stressors in laboratory settings.| Periode | 23-apr.-2024 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstitel | Netherlands Society for Evolutionary Biology Meeting 2024 |
| Evenementstype | Conference |
| Organisator | Dutch Society for Evolutionary Biology (NLSEB) |
| Sponsor | Dutch Research Council (NWO) |
| Locatie | Ede, NetherlandsToon op kaart |
| Mate van erkenning | International |