Document Type
Article
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
6-13-2019
Journal
Biology
Volume
8
Issue
2
First Page
46
Abstract
We studied the effects of metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) in two populations of a eurythermal species, spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) along the U.S. East Coast. Fish were captured from their natural environment and acclimated at control temperatures 15 °C or 20 °C. Their oxygen consumption rates, a proxy for metabolic rates, were measured using intermittent flow respirometry during acute temperature decrease or increase (2.5 °C per hour). Mass-specific standard metabolic rates (SMR) were higher in fish from the northern population across an ecologically relevant temperature gradient (5 °C to 30 °C). SMR were up to 37% higher in the northern population at 25 °C and maximum metabolic rates (MMR) were up to 20% higher at 20 °C. We found evidence of active metabolic compensation in the southern population from 5 °C to 15 °C (Q10 < 2), but not in the northern population. Taken together, our results indicate differences in metabolic plasticity between the northern and southern populations of spotted seatrout and provide a mechanistic basis for predicting population-specific responses to climate change.
DOI
10.3390/biology8020046
Keywords
metabolic rates; aerobic scope; estuarine fish; plasticity
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Song, Jingwei; Brill, Richard; and McDowell, Jan, Plasticity in Standard and Maximum Aerobic Metabolic Rates in Two Populations of an Estuarine Dependent Teleost, Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) (2019). Biology, 8(2), 46.
10.3390/biology8020046
Supplementary file
