Respiratory control in aquatic insects dictates their vulnerability to global warming.
Forecasting species responses to climatic warming requires knowledge of how temperature impacts may be exacerbated by other environmental stressors, hypoxia being a principal example in aquatic systems. Both stressors could interact directly as temperature affects both oxygen bioavailability and ectotherm oxygen demand. Insufficient oxygen has been shown to limit thermal tolerance in several aquatic ectotherms, although, the generality of this mechanism has been challenged for tracheated arthropods. Comparing species pairs spanning four different insect orders, we demonstrate that oxygen can indeed limit thermal tolerance in tracheates. Species that were poor at regulating oxygen uptake were consistently more vulnerable to the synergistic effects of warming and hypoxia, demonstrating the importance of respiratory control in setting thermal tolerance limits.
Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. wilco@aquaticecology.nl
Wilco C E P
WC
Verberk
David T
DT
Bilton
D000818:Animals; D005618:Fresh Water; D057232:Global Warming; D007313:Insecta / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D012119:Respiration
D010100:Oxygen
climate change; eutrophication; hypoxia; multi stressor; oxygen limitation; respiration physiology