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Firth BL, Craig PM, Drake DAR, Power M. Impact of turbidity on the gill morphology and hypoxia tolerance of eastern sand darter (Ammocrypta pellucida). JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2024; 104:1888-1898. [PMID: 38506425 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
Anthropogenic stressors such as agriculture and urbanization can increase river turbidity, which can negatively impact fish gill morphology and growth due to reduced oxygen in the benthic environment. We assessed the gill morphology, field metabolic rate (FMR), and two hypoxia tolerance metrics (oxygen partial pressure at loss of equilibrium, PO2 at LOE, and critical oxygen tension, Pcrit) of eastern sand darter (Ammocrypta pellucida), a small benthic fish listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act in Canada, from rivers in southern Ontario. Field trials were conducted streamside in the Grand River (August 2019; mean NTU 8) and in the comparatively more turbid Thames River (August 2020; mean NTU 94) to test the effect of turbidity on each physiological endpoint. Gills were collected from incidental mortalities and museum specimens, and were assessed using hematoxylin and eosin and immunofluorescent staining. The between-river comparison indicated that turbidity significantly increased interlamellar space and filament width but had no significant influence on other gill morphometrics or FMR. Turbidity significantly increased PO2 at LOE (i.e., fish had a lower hypoxia tolerance) but did not significantly impact Pcrit. Therefore, although turbidity influences hypoxia tolerance through LOE, turbidity levels were not sufficiently high in the study rivers to contribute to measurable changes in gill morphology or metabolism in the wild. Determining whether changes in gill morphology or metabolism occur under higherturbidity levels would help resolve the ecological importance of turbidity on species physiology in urban and agricultural ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britney L Firth
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | - Paul M Craig
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | - D Andrew R Drake
- Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael Power
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Firth BL, Craig PM, Drake DAR, Power M. Impacts of temperature and turbidity on the gill physiology of darter species. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2024; 291:111589. [PMID: 38253199 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2024.111589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Fish gills are complex organs that have direct contact with the environment and perform numerous functions including gas exchange and ion regulation. Determining if gill morphometry can change under different environmental conditions to maintain and/or improve gas exchange and ion regulation is important for understanding if gill plasticity can improve survival with increasing environmental change. We assessed gill morphology (gas exchange and ion regulation metrics), hematocrit and gill Na+/K+ ATPase activity of wild-captured blackside darter (Percina maculata), greenside darter (Etheostoma blennioides), and johnny darter (Etheostoma nigrum) at two temperatures (10 and 25 °C) and turbidity levels (8 and 94 NTU). Samples were collected August and October 2020 in the Grand River to assess temperature differences, and August 2020 in the Thames River to assess turbidity differences. Significant effects of temperature and/or turbidity only impacted ionocyte number, lamellae width, and hematocrit. An increase in temperature decreased ionocyte number while an increase in turbidity increased lamellae width. Hematocrit had a species-specific response for both temperature and turbidity. Findings suggest that the three darter species have limited plasticity in gill morphology, with no observed compensatory changes in hematocrit or Na+/K+ ATPase activity to maintain homeostasis under the different environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britney L Firth
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
| | - Paul M Craig
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. https://twitter.com/pcraig77
| | - D Andrew R Drake
- Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Burlington, ON, Canada
| | - Michael Power
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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Kraskura K, Anderson CE, Eliason EJ. Pairing lab and field studies to predict thermal performance of wild fish. J Therm Biol 2024; 119:103780. [PMID: 38302373 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2023.103780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
In thermally variable ecosystems, temperatures can change extensively on hourly and seasonal timescales requiring ectotherms to possess a broad thermal tolerance (critical thermal minima [CTmin] and maxima [CTmax]). However, whether fish acclimate in the laboratory similarly as they acclimatize in the field under comparable thermal variation is unclear. We used temperature data from a tidal salt marsh to design 21-day lab-acclimation treatments (static: 12, 17, 22, 27 °C; daily variation with mean 22 °C: i) range 17-27 °C, ii) range 17-27 °C with irregular extremes within 12-32 °C). We compared thermal limits in lab-acclimated and field-acclimatized eurythermal arrow goby (Clevelandia ios). Variable temperature-acclimated and acclimatized fish had similar CTmin and CTmax. Notably, arrow gobies showed rapid plasticity in their absolute thermal tolerance within one tidal cycle. The daily mean and max temperatures experienced were positively related to CTmax and CTmin, respectively. This study demonstrates that ecologically informed lab acclimation treatments can yield tolerance results that are applicable to wild fish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krista Kraskura
- Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
| | - Claire E Anderson
- Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Erika J Eliason
- Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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Firth BL, Craig PM, Drake DAR, Power M. Seasonal, environmental and individual effects on hypoxia tolerance of eastern sand darter ( Ammocrypta pellucida). CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 11:coad008. [PMID: 36926473 PMCID: PMC10012177 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coad008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Metabolic rate and hypoxia tolerance are highly variable among individual fish in a stable environment. Understanding the variability of these measures in wild fish populations is critical for assessing adaptive potential and determining local extinction risks as a result of climate-induced fluctuations in temperature and hypoxic conditions. We assessed the field metabolic rate (FMR) and two hypoxia tolerance metrics, oxygen pressure at loss of equilibrium (PO2 at LOE) and critical oxygen tolerance (Pcrit) of wild-captured eastern sand darter (Ammocrypta pellucida), a threatened species in Canada, using field trials (June to October) that encompassed ambient water temperatures and oxygen conditions typically experienced by the species. Temperature was significantly and positively related to hypoxia tolerance but not FMR. Temperature alone explained 1%, 31% and 7% of the variability observed in FMR, LOE, and Pcrit, respectively. Environmental and fish-specific factors such as reproductive season and condition explained much of the residual variation. Reproductive season significantly affected FMR by increasing it by 159-176% over the tested temperature range. Further understanding the impact of reproductive season on metabolic rate over a temperature range is crucial for understanding how climate change could impact species fitness. Among-individual variation in FMR significantly increased with temperature while among-individual variation in both hypoxia tolerance metrics did not. A large degree of variation in FMR in the summer might allow for evolutionary rescue with increasing mean and variance of global temperatures. Findings suggest that temperature may be a weak predictor in a field setting where biotic and abiotic factors can act concurrently on variables that affect physiological tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britney L Firth
- Corresponding author: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
| | - Paul M Craig
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - D Andrew R Drake
- Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Burlington, ON, L7S 1A1, Canada
| | - Michael Power
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
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Wheeler CR, Lang BJ, Mandelman JW, Rummer JL. The upper thermal limit of epaulette sharks ( Hemiscyllium ocellatum) is conserved across three life history stages, sex and body size. CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 10:coac074. [PMID: 36583221 PMCID: PMC9795165 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coac074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Revised: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 11/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Owing to climate change, most notably the increasing frequency of marine heatwaves and long-term ocean warming, better elucidating the upper thermal limits of marine fishes is important for predicting the future of species and populations. The critical thermal maximum (CTmax), or the highest temperature a species can tolerate, is a physiological metric that is used to establish upper thermal limits. Among marine organisms, this metric is commonly assessed in bony fishes but less so in other taxonomic groups, such as elasmobranchs (subclass of sharks, rays and skates), where only thermal acclimation effects on CTmax have been assessed. Herein, we tested whether three life history stages, sex and body size affected CTmax in a tropical elasmobranch, the epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum), collected from the reef flats surrounding Heron Island, Australia. Overall, we found no difference in CTmax between life history stages, sexes or across a range of body sizes. Findings from this research suggest that the energetically costly processes (i.e. growth, maturation and reproduction) associated with the life history stages occupying these tropical reef flats do not change overall acute thermal tolerance. However, it is important to note that neither embryos developing in ovo, neonates, nor females actively encapsulating egg cases were observed in or collected from the reef flats. Overall, our findings provide the first evidence in an elasmobranch that upper thermal tolerance is not impacted by life history stage or size. This information will help to improve our understanding of how anthropogenic climate change may (or may not) disproportionally affect particular life stages and, as such, where additional conservation and management actions may be required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolyn R Wheeler
- Corresponding author: 1 James Cook Drive, Douglas, Queensland 4814, Australia. Tel: + 61 0480 129 737.
| | - Bethan J Lang
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4814, Australia
| | - John W Mandelman
- School for the Environment, The University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA
- Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, New England Aquarium, Boston, MA 02110, USA
| | - Jodie L Rummer
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4814, Australia
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4814, Australia
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