Early developmental stages of native populations of Ciona intestinalis under increased temperature are affected by local habitat history [RESEARCH ARTICLE]

E. A. Clutton, G. Alurralde, and T. Repolho Temperature modulates marine ectotherm physiology, influencing survival, abundance and species distribution. While native species could be susceptible to ocean warming, thermal tolerance might favour the spread of non-native species. Determining the success of invasive species in response to climate change is confounded by the cumulative, synergistic or antagonistic effects of environmental drivers, which vary at a geographical and temporal scale. Thus, an organism's acclimation or adaptive potential could play an important evolutionary role by enabling or conditioning species tolerance to stressful environmental conditions. We investigated developmental performance of early life stages of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis (derived from populations of anthropogenically-impacted and control sites) to an extreme weather event (i.e. marine heat wave). Fertilisation rate, embryo and larval development, settlement, metamorphosis success and juvenile heart beat rate were assessed as experimental endpoints. With the exception of fertilization and heart beat rates, temperature influenced all analysed endpoints. C. intestinalis derived from control sites were the most negatively affected by increased temperature conditions. Opposingly, C. intestinalis from anthropogenically impacted sites showed a positive response to thermal stress, with a higher proportion of larvae development, settlement and metamorphosis success being observed under incre...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research