4.4 Article

Rapid plastic responses to chronic hypoxia in the bearded fireworm,Hermodice carunculata(Annelida: Amphinomidae)

Journal

MARINE BIOLOGY
Volume 167, Issue 9, Pages -

Publisher

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00227-020-03756-0

Keywords

-

Funding

  1. Marine Biology Department

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Hypoxia is a widespread and increasing phenomenon in marine environments, including coral reefs. The bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) is a large corallivorous amphinomid polychaete, with a high tolerance of environmental stress, including temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen (DO). Currently, little is known about the response ofH. carunculatato chronic (>= 18 h) hypoxia, although this knowledge is crucial to understand its impact on coral reef health under hypoxia scenarios. We tested the hypothesis that the number of branchial filaments (previously used as a diagnostic character for species identification) increases in response to chronic hypoxia. We subjected wild-caught fireworms to two levels of reduced DO (Mid: 4.5 +/- 0.25 mg O(2)L(-1)and Low: 2.5 +/- 0.25 mg O2L-1) to explore their morphological and physiological responses to seven days of chronic hypoxia. Hypoxia exposure resulted in a higher number of branchial filaments (low = 57.2 +/- 5.3, mid = 57.4 +/- 6.1, and normal = 47.4 +/- 11.2) after seven days. Fireworms exposed to hypoxia further reduced their rate of regeneration, but returned to normal regenerative rates after fifteen weeks under normoxic conditions. There was no difference in regeneration rates between low and mid DO groups. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering multiple physiological and morphological endpoints as well as phenotypic plasticity in species delimitations. Indeed, the results suggest that morphological variation can be indicative of environmental conditions.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.4
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available