Long term increased temperature and hypoxia effects on Halobatrachus didactylus metabolic rate

PEDRO GUERREIRO; JUAN MANUEL MOLINA; ANDREAS KUNZMANN

Bremen haven

Congreso; ICYMAREE; 2020

ZMT

In the last decades the scientific community has focused the studieson aspects of climate change. Given that physiological processes arethe link between the environment and the individual-level responses,studies focusing on the effects of environmental drivers on thephysiology of marine organisms are sorely neededThe goal of this study is to quantify and determine the long termeffects of increased temperature and hypoxia on the stress responseof the toadfish Halobatrachus didactylus using respirometry.H. didactilus was found to be sensitive to high temperatures and hypoxia. Long term exposure to high temperatures may drastically impact the sustenance of this species, as the large increase in SMR implies higher food needs. While mobile species might increase their depredation rates owning to higher activity rates, sit and wait predators like H. dactylopterusdo not actively seek prey, instead remaining immobile in hiding. This might imply that under a global warming scenario this species might change its naturally occurring distribution northward or face large population fluctuations in summer, where temperatures approach the 28C. Hypoxia seems to have certain mitigation effect on MR, as less oxygen is available to support increased activity