Intraspecific individual variation of temperature tolerance associated with oxygen demand in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

Cardiovascular oxygen transport and peripheral oxygen extraction capacity contribute to acute heat tolerance in European seabass

This study evaluated whether different parameters describing cardiovascular function, energy metabolism, oxygen transport and oxidative stress were related to the critical thermal maximum (CT_MAX) of European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and if there were differential changes in these parameters during and after heat shock in animals with different CT_MAX in order to characterize which physiological features make seabass vulnerable to heat waves. Seabass (n = 621) were tested for CT_MAX and the physiological parameters were measured in individuals with good or poor temperature tolerance before and after a heat shock (change in temperature from 15 °C to 28 °C in 1.5 h). Fish with good thermal tolerance had larger ventricles with higher maximal heart rate during the heat shock than individuals with poor tolerance. Furthermore, they initially had a high ventricular Ca²⁺-ATPase activity, which was reduced to a similar level as in fish with poor tolerance following heat shock. The activity of heart lactate dehydrogenase increased in fish with high tolerance, when they were exposed to heat shock, while the aerobic enzyme activity did not differ between groups. The tolerant individuals had smaller red muscle fibers with higher myoglobin content than the poorly tolerant ones. The poorly tolerant individuals had higher hematocrit, which increased with heat shock in both groups. The poorly tolerant individuals had also higher activity of enzymes related to oxidative stress especially after heat shock. In general, CT_MAX was not depending on merely one physiological factor but several organ and cellular parameters were related to the CT_MAX of seabass and when working in combination they might protect the highly tolerant seabass from future heat waves.

Metabolic scope, performance and tolerance of juvenile European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax upon acclimation to high temperatures

European sea bass is a species of great commercial value for fisheries and aquaculture. Rising temperatures may jeopardize the performance and survival of the species across its distribution and farming range, making the investigation of its thermal responses highly relevant. In this article, the metabolic scope, performance, and tolerance of juvenile E. sea bass reared under three high water temperatures (24, 28, 33°C), for a period of three months was evaluated via analysis of selected growth performance and physiological indicators. Effects on molecular, hormonal, and biochemical variables were analyzed along with effects of acclimation temperature on the metabolic rate and Critical Thermal maximum (CT_max). Despite signs of thermal stress at 28°C indicated by high plasma cortisol and lactate levels as well as the upregulation of genes coding for Heat Shock Proteins (HSP), E. sea bass can maintain high performance at that temperature which is encouraging for the species culture in the context of a warming ocean. Critical survivability thresholds appear sharply close to 33°C, where the aerobic capacity declines and the overall performance diminishes. European sea bass demonstrates appreciable capacity to cope with acute thermal stress exhibiting CT_max as high as 40°C for fish acclimated at high temperatures, which may indicate resilience to future heatwaves events.

Temperature-dependent plasticity mediates heart morphology and thermal performance of cardiac function in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

In many fishes, upper thermal tolerance is thought to be limited in part by the heart's ability to meet increased oxygen demands during periods of high temperature. Temperature-dependent plasticity within the cardiovascular system may help fishes cope with the thermal stress imposed by increasing water temperatures. In this study, we examined plasticity in heart morphology and function in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reared under control (+0°C) or elevated (+4°C) temperatures. Using noninvasive Doppler echocardiography, we measured the effect of acute warming on maximum heart rate, stroke distance, and derived cardiac output. A 4°C increase in average developmental temperature resulted in a>5°C increase in the Arrhenius breakpoint temperature for maximum heart rate and enabled the hearts of these fish to continue beating rhythmically to temperatures approximately 2°C higher than control fish. However, these differences in thermal performance were not associated with plasticity in maximum cardiovascular capacity, as peak measures of heart rate, stroke distance, and derived cardiac output did not differ between temperature treatments. Histological analysis of the heart revealed that while ventricular roundness and relative ventricle size did not differ between treatments, the proportion of compact myocardium in the ventricular wall was significantly greater in fish raised at elevated temperatures. Our findings contribute to the growing understanding of how the thermal environment can affect phenotypes later in life and identifies a morphological strategy that may help fishes cope with acute thermal stress.

Coronary blood flow influences tolerance to environmental extremes in fish

Approximately half of all fishes have, in addition to the luminal venous O2 supply, a coronary circulation supplying the heart with fully oxygenated blood. Yet, it is not fully understood how coronary O2 delivery affects tolerance to environmental extremes such as warming and hypoxia. Hypoxia reduces arterial oxygenation, while warming increases overall tissue O2 demand. Thus, as both stressors are associated with reduced venous O2 supply to the heart, we hypothesised that coronary flow benefits hypoxia and warming tolerance. To test this hypothesis, we blocked coronary blood flow (via surgical coronary ligation) in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and assessed how in vivo cardiorespiratory performance and whole-animal tolerance to acute hypoxia and warming was affected. While coronary ligation reduced routine stroke volume relative to trout with intact coronaries, cardiac output was maintained by an increase in heart rate. However, in hypoxia, coronary-ligated trout were unable to increase stroke volume to maintain cardiac output when bradycardia developed, which was associated with a slightly reduced hypoxia tolerance. Moreover, during acute warming, coronary ligation caused cardiac function to collapse at lower temperatures and reduced overall heat tolerance relative to trout with intact coronary arteries. We also found a positive relationship between individual hypoxia and heat tolerance across treatment groups, and tolerance to both environmental stressors was positively correlated with cardiac performance. Collectively, our findings show that coronary perfusion improves cardiac O2 supply and therefore cardiovascular function at environmental extremes, which benefits tolerance to natural and anthropogenically induced environmental perturbations.

Living on the upper intertidal mudflat: Different behavioral and physiological responses to high temperature between two sympatric cerithidea snails with divergent habitat-use strategies

Temperature plays a major role in controlling species' distributions, and small-scale variation in the thermal environment are potentially an important factor that governs distributions on a local scale. For untangling the roles of behavioral and physiological adaptations on species' distribution at a small-scale level, we carried out a comparative study of two mudflat snails (genus Cerithidea) by determining these congeners' burying behavior, lethal temperature, cardiac performance and heat-shock protein (hsp70) gene expression. These two sympatric snails occupy different microhabitats on the upper intertidal mudflat. During periods of emersion, C. cingulata inhabits the open mudflat and C. largillierti usually aggregates around small rocks on the upper intertidal mudflat. Our results indicate that the two Cerithidea congeners show different behavioral and physiological responses to high temperature. Compared to C. largillierti, C. cingulata prefers to bury into the mud, has a higher thermal limit and a higher level of inducible expression of hsp70 mRNA, implying important roles of behavioral and physiological adaptations to the harsh thermal environment on the open mudflat. Furthermore, results of generalized additive modelling (GAM) analysis of cardiac performance and coefficient of variation (CV) of hsp70 mRNA expression showed high inter-individual variation in C. cingulata. These results highlight the importance of behavioral and physiological adaptions in sympatric species' distributions on the mudflat and help to shed light on the mechanisms of how small-scale differences in the thermal environment shape sympatric species' distributions.

A physiological perspective on fisheries-induced evolution

There is increasing evidence that intense fishing pressure is not only depleting fish stocks but also causing evolutionary changes to fish populations. In particular, body size and fecundity in wild fish populations may be altered in response to the high and often size‐selective mortality exerted by fisheries. While these effects can have serious consequences for the viability of fish populations, there are also a range of traits not directly related to body size which could also affect susceptibility to capture by fishing gears—and therefore fisheries‐induced evolution (FIE)—but which have to date been ignored. For example, overlooked within the context of FIE is the likelihood that variation in physiological traits could make some individuals within species more vulnerable to capture. Specifically, traits related to energy balance (e.g., metabolic rate), swimming performance (e.g., aerobic scope), neuroendocrinology (e.g., stress responsiveness) and sensory physiology (e.g., visual acuity) are especially likely to influence vulnerability to capture through a variety of mechanisms. Selection on these traits could produce major shifts in the physiological traits within populations in response to fishing pressure that are yet to be considered but which could influence population resource requirements, resilience, species’ distributions and responses to environmental change.

Negligible differences in metabolism and thermal tolerance between diploid and triploid Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

The mechanisms that underlie thermal tolerance in aquatic ectotherms remain unresolved. Triploid fish have been reported to exhibit lower thermal tolerance than diploids, offering a potential model organism to better understand the physiological drivers of thermal tolerance. Here, we compared triploid and diploid juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in freshwater to investigate the proposed link between aerobic capacity and thermal tolerance. We measured specific growth rates (SGR) and resting (aerobic) metabolic rates (RMR) in freshwater at 3, 7 and 9 weeks of acclimation to either 10, 14 or 18°C. Additionally, maximum metabolic rates (MMR) were measured at 3 and 7 weeks of acclimation, and critical thermal maxima (CTmax) were measured at 9 weeks. Mass, SGR, and RMR differed between ploidies across all temperatures at the beginning of the acclimation period, but all three metrics converged between ploidies by week 7. Aerobic scope (MMR – RMR) remained consistent across ploidies, acclimation temperatures, and time. At 9 weeks, CTmax was independent of ploidy, but correlated positively with acclimation temperature despite the similar aerobic scope between acclimation groups. Our findings suggest that acute thermal tolerance is not modulated by aerobic scope, and the altered genome of triploid Atlantic salmon does not translate to reduced thermal tolerance of juvenile fish in freshwater.

Oxygen- and capacity-limited thermal tolerance: bridging ecology and physiology

Observations of climate impacts on ecosystems highlight the need for an understanding of organismal thermal ranges and their implications at the ecosystem level. Where changes in aquatic animal populations have been observed, the integrative concept of oxygen- and capacity-limited thermal tolerance (OCLTT) has successfully characterised the onset of thermal limits to performance and field abundance. The OCLTT concept addresses the molecular to whole-animal mechanisms that define thermal constraints on the capacity for oxygen supply to the organism in relation to oxygen demand. The resulting ‘total excess aerobic power budget’ supports an animal's performance (e.g. comprising motor activity, reproduction and growth) within an individual's thermal range. The aerobic power budget is often approximated through measurements of aerobic scope for activity (i.e. the maximum difference between resting and the highest exercise-induced rate of oxygen consumption), whereas most animals in the field rely on lower (i.e. routine) modes of activity. At thermal limits, OCLTT also integrates protective mechanisms that extend time-limited tolerance to temperature extremes – mechanisms such as chaperones, anaerobic metabolism and antioxidative defence. Here, we briefly summarise the OCLTT concept and update it by addressing the role of routine metabolism. We highlight potential pitfalls in applying the concept and discuss the variables measured that led to the development of OCLTT. We propose that OCLTT explains why thermal vulnerability is highest at the whole-animal level and lowest at the molecular level. We also discuss how OCLTT captures the thermal constraints on the evolution of aquatic animal life and supports an understanding of the benefits of transitioning from water to land.

Elevated temperature and acclimation time affect metabolic performance in the heavily exploited Nile perch of Lake Victoria

Increasing water temperatures due to anthropogenic climate change are predicted to negatively impact the aerobic metabolic performance of aquatic ectotherms. Specifically, it has been hypothesized that thermal increases result in reductions in aerobic scope (AS), which lead to decreases in energy available for essential fitness and performance functions. Consequences of warming are anticipated to be especially severe for warm-adapted tropical species as they are thought to have narrow thermal windows and limited plasticity for coping with elevated temperatures. In this study we test how predicted warming may affect the aerobic performance of Nile perch (Lates niloticus), a commercially-harvested fish species in the Lake Victoria basin of East Africa. We measured critical thermal maxima (CTmax) and key metabolic variables such as AS and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) across a range of temperatures, and compared responses between acute (3-day) exposures and 3-week acclimations. CTmax increased with acclimation temperature, however 3-week acclimated fish had higher overall CTmax than acutely-exposed individuals. Nile perch also showed the capacity to increase or maintain high AS even at temperatures well beyond their current range, however acclimated Nile perch had lower AS compared to acutely-exposed fish. These changes were accompanied by lower EPOC, suggesting that drops in AS may reflect improved energy utilization after acclimation, a finding that is supported by improvements in growth at high temperatures over the acclimation period. Overall, the results challenge predictions that tropical species have limited thermal plasticity, and that high temperatures will be detrimental due to limitations in AS.

Individual variation in whole-animal hypoxia tolerance is associated with cardiac hypoxia tolerance in a marine teleost

Hypoxia is a pervasive problem in coastal environments and is predicted to have enduring impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Intraspecific variation in hypoxia tolerance is well documented in fish; however, the factors underlying this variation remain unknown. Here, we investigate the role of the heart in individual hypoxia tolerance of the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). We found individual whole-animal hypoxia tolerance is a stable trait in sea bass for more than 18 months (duration of study). We next examined in vitro cardiac performance and found myocardial muscle from hypoxia-tolerant individuals generated greater force, with higher rates of contraction and relaxation, than hypoxic-sensitive individuals during hypoxic exposure. Thus, whole-animal hypoxia tolerance is associated with cardiac hypoxia tolerance. As the occurrence of aquatic hypoxia is expected to increase in marine ecosystems, our experimental data suggest that cardiac performance may influence fish survival and distribution.