Influence of respiratory mode on the thermal tolerance of intertidal limpets

Type Article
Date 2018-09
Language English
Author(s) Kankondi Sebbi L.1, McQuaid Christopher D.1, Tagliarolo MorganaORCID1, 2
Affiliation(s) 1 : Rhodes Univ, Dept Zool & Entomol, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
2 : IFREMER, UMSR LEEISA, CNRS, UG, Cayenne, France.
Source Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2018-09 , Vol. 13 , N. 9 , P. e0203555 (15p.)
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0203555
WOS© Times Cited 3
Abstract

Predicting ecological responses to climate change requires an understanding of the mechanisms that influence species' tolerances to temperature. Based on the idea that air and water breathing animals are differentially suited to life in either medium due to differences in their respiratory morphology, we examined the possibility that the thermal tolerances of coexisting intertidal pulmonate and patellogastropod limpets may differ in different breathing media. We tested this by determining each species' median lethal temperature (LT50) and cardiac Arrhenius breakpoint temperature (ABT) as measures of upper thermal tolerance limits, in air and water. Although all these species can survive in air and water, we hypothesised that the pulmonate limpets, Siphonaria capensis and S. serrata, would have higher thermal limits than the patellogastropod limpets, Cellana capensis and Scutellastra granularis, in air and vice versa in water. The results did not support our hypotheses, since C. capensis had similar thermal tolerance limits to the pulmonate limpets in air and the pulmonate limpets had thermal tolerance limits similar to or higher than S. granularis in water. Thus, considering pulmonate and patellid limpets as groups, we found no differences in their collective upper thermal tolerance limits in either medium. We conclude that differences between these two limpet groups in their respiratory morphology do not influence thermal tolerance, but that tolerances are species-specific.

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Publisher's official version 15 3 MB Open access
S1 Fig. Map displaying the study animals’ distributions along the South African coast line. 126 KB Open access
S2 Fig. Graphic (not to scale) displaying the vertical zonation (m) patterns (approximates) of the study animals. 276 KB Open access
S3 Fig. Graphic (not to scale) of the LT50 ramping protocol for the three highest temperature intervals used in this study. 46 KB Open access
S1 Table. The temperature intervals and in parentheses the heating rates (°C.min-1) used to determine the limpets LT50 values in both media. 1 12 KB Open access
S2 Table. The final number of replicates per species for each experimental condition. 1 82 KB Open access
S3 Table. Results from the nested design ANOVA run on the LT50 (°C) values obtained via probit analysis of the limpet’s mortality (%) vs temperature (°C) data in both media. 1 84 KB Open access
S4 Table. Results from the nested design ANOVA run on the ABTs obtained from the thermal response curves in both media. 1 84 KB Open access
S5 Table. Results from the nested design ANOVA run on the slopes obtained from the thermal response curves in both media. 1 84 KB Open access
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