Population‐dependent acclimatization capacity of thermal tolerance in larvae of the rocky‐shore barnacle Pollicipes elegans |
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| Authors: | Sam Crickenberger Kathleen Walther Sergio Marchant Peter B Marko Amy L Moran |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA;2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA;3. Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA |
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| Abstract: | As environmental temperatures increase and become more seasonally variable, the ability of individuals to plastically alter their physiological responses to temperature (=acclimatize) may affect the potential for species persistence. Among marine organisms, the larval stage is often the most physiologically sensitive; larvae are also often the main dispersal stage in the life history. However, studies that address the acclimatization of marine larvae are rare. We investigated whether larvae of the gooseneck barnacle Pollicipes elegans from two temperate populations, one from the Northern Hemisphere (Mexico) and one from the Southern Hemisphere (Peru), show patterns of seasonal acclimatization to temperature. We compared the effects of temperature on swimming activity, oxygen consumption, and mortality of larvae from the two populations in both warm and cold seasons. Larvae from Mexico had higher thermal tolerances when collected in the boreal summer compared to the boreal winter, while no similar indication of seasonal acclimatization was seen in larvae from Peru. The lack of acclimatization in larvae of P. elegans from Peru may be related to recent thermal history, low selection for acclimatization due to irregular patterns of seasonal temperature change during ENSO events, or to different phylogeographic histories of Northern‐ and Southern‐hemisphere populations. |
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| Keywords: | acclimatization antitropical barnacle eastern tropical Pacific nauplius |
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