Abstract
In the global warming context, we compared the thermal tolerance of several populations of the crustacean Gammarus pulex (Amphipoda: Gammaridae) along a latitudinal thermal gradient in the Rhône Valley. To disentangle the effect of regional (North vs. South) and local (site-specific) factors, the ecophysiological responses of populations were investigated at two levels of biological organisation: whole organism level considering body size [critical thermal maximum (CTmax), mean speed of locomotion (MS), time mobile (TM)] and organelle function level [mitochondrial respiratory control ratios (RCRs)]. CTmax and RCRs, but not MS and TM, revealed a significantly higher thermal tolerance in southern populations compared to northern ones. Nevertheless, temperatures ≥ 30°C were deleterious for all populations, suggesting that populations located in the warmer limit of the species distribution will be more threatened by climate change as they live closer to their upper thermal limits. The strong differences observed between populations indicate that the species-level thermal tolerance used in predictive models may not be informative enough to study the impact of global warming on species distributions. This work also reveals that an appropriate choice of indicators is essential to study the consequences of global warming since the response of organisms at the whole body level can be influenced by local conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abele D, Heise K, Pörtner HO, Puntarulu S (2002) Temperature-dependence of mitochondrial function and production of reactive oxygen species in the intertidal mud clam Mya arenaria. J Exp Biol 205:1831–1841
Brand MD, Harper ME, Taylor HC (1993) Control of the effective P/O ratio of oxidative phosphorylation in liver mitochondria and hepatocytes. Biochem J 291:739–748
Cuculescu M, Hyde D, Bowler K (1998) Thermal tolerance of two species of marine crab, Cancer pagurus and Carcinus maenas. J Therm Biol 23:107–110
Dahlhoff E, Somero GN (1993) Effects of temperature on mitochondria from abalone (genus Haliotis): adaptive plasticity and its limits. J Exp Biol 185:151–168
Dangles O, Malmqvist B (2004) Species richness–decomposition relationships depend on species dominance. Ecol Lett 7:395–402
Diaz F, Sierra E, Bückle F, Garrido A (1998) Critical thermal maxima and minima of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Decapoda: palaemonidae). J Therm Biol 23:381–385
Fangue NA, Hofmeister M, Schulte PM (2006) Intraspecific variation in thermal tolerance and heat-shock protein gene expression in common killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. J Exp Biol 209:2859–2872
Hopkin RS, Qari S, Bowler K, Hyde D, Cuculescu M (2006) Seasonal thermal tolerance in marine crustacea. J Exp Biol Mar Ecol 331:74–81
Iftikar FI, MacDonald J, Hickey AJR (2010) Thermal limit of portunid crab heart mitochondria: could more thermo-stable mitochondria advantage invasive species? J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 395:232–239
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007. In: Pachauri RK, Resinger A (eds) Contribution of working groups I, II and III to the fourth assessment report of the international panel on climate change, Switzerland
Lutterschmidt WI, Hutchinson VH (1997) The critical thermal maximum: data to support the onset of spasms as the definitive end point. Can J Zool 75:1553–1560
Maazouzi C, Piscart C, Legier F, Hervant F (2011) Ecophysiological responses to temperature of the “killer shrimp” Dikerogammarus villosus: is the invader really stronger than the native Gammarus pulex? Comp Biochem Phys A 159:268–274
Peck LS (2011) Organisms and responses to environmental change. Mar Genomics 4:237–243
Peck LS, Clark MS, Morley SA, Massey A, Rossetti H (2009) Animal temperature limits and ecological relevance: effect of size, activity and rates of change. Func Ecol 23:248–256
Philippart CJM, Anadón R, Danavaroc R, Dippnerd J, Drinkwater KF, Hawkins SJ, Oguz T, O’Sullivn G, Reid PC (2011) Impacts of climate change on European marine ecosystems: observations, expectations and indicators. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 400:52–69
Pinkster S (1972) On members of the Gammarus pulex-group (Crustacea-Amphipoda) from Western Europe. Bijdr Dierk 42:164–191
Piscart C, Webb D, Beisel JN (2007) An acanthocephalan parasite increases the salinity tolerance of the freshwater amphipod Gammarus roeseli (Crustacea: Gammaridae). Naturwissenschaften 94:741–746
Piscart C, Mermillod-Blondin F, Maazouzi C, Mérigoux S, Marmonier P (2011) Potential impact of invasive amphipods on leaf litter recycling in aquatic ecosystems. Biol Invasions 13:2861–2868
Pörtner HO, Farrell AP (2008) Physiology and climate change. Science 322:690–692
Pörtner HO, Knust R (2007) Climate change affects marine fishes through the oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance. Science 315:95–97
Pörtner HO, Hardewig I, Peck L (1999) Mitochondrial function and critical temperature in the Antarctic bivalve, Laternula elliptica. Comp Biochem Physiol A 124:179–189
Shillito B, Le Bris N, Hourdez S, Ravaux J, Cottin D, Caprais JC, Jollivet D, Gaill F (2006) Temperature resistance studies on the deep-sea vent shrimp Mirocaris fortunata. J Exp Biol 209:945–955
Somero GN (2002) Thermal physiology and vertical zonation of intertidal animals: optima, limits, and costs of living. Integ Comp Biol 42:780–789
Somero GN (2010) The physiology of climate change: how potentials for acclimatisation and genetic adaptation will determine ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. J Exp Biol 213:912–920
Stillman JH (2002) Causes and consequences of thermal tolerance limits in rocky intertidal porcelain crabs, genus Petrolisthes. Integr Comp Biol 42:790–796
Stillman JH, Somero GN (2000) A comparative analysis of the upper thermal tolerance limits of eastern Pacific porcelain crabs, Genus Petrolisthes: influence of latitude, vertical zonation, acclimation and phylogeny. Physiol Biochem Zool 73:200–208
Tomanek L, Somero GN (1999) Evolutionary and acclimation-induced variation in the heat-shock responses of congeneric marine snails (genus Tegula) from different thermal habitats: implications for limits of thermotolerance and biogeography. J Exp Biol 202:2925–2936
Whiteley NM, Rastrick SPS, Lunt DH, Rock J (2011) Latitudinal variations in the physiology of marine gammarid amphipods. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 400:70–77
Acknowledgement
This work was funded through a research grant (WETCHANGE Project, 2010–2012) of the CEP 2009 program of the National Research Agency [Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)]. We are grateful to Nadia Bouissou, Sarah Dalmais, Kathleen Ferrand and Marion Genevois for their help in sampling and experimental work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by: Sven Thatje
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cottin, D., Roussel, D., Foucreau, N. et al. Disentangling the effects of local and regional factors on the thermal tolerance of freshwater crustaceans. Naturwissenschaften 99, 259–264 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0894-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0894-4