Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Multigenerational exposure to elevated temperatures leads to a reduction in standard metabolic rate in the wild

View ORCID ProfileNatalie Pilakouta, View ORCID ProfileShaun S. Killen, View ORCID ProfileBjarni K. Kristjánsson, Skúli Skúlason, Jan Lindström, View ORCID ProfileNeil B. Metcalfe, View ORCID ProfileKevin J. Parsons
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/749986
Natalie Pilakouta
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UKSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Natalie Pilakouta
  • For correspondence: n.pilakouta@gmail.com
Shaun S. Killen
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Shaun S. Killen
Bjarni K. Kristjánsson
Department of Aquaculture and Fish Biology, Hólar University, Sauðárkrókur, Iceland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Bjarni K. Kristjánsson
Skúli Skúlason
Department of Aquaculture and Fish Biology, Hólar University, Sauðárkrókur, IcelandIcelandic Museum of Natural History, Reykjavík, Iceland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jan Lindström
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Neil B. Metcalfe
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Neil B. Metcalfe
Kevin J. Parsons
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Kevin J. Parsons
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

  1. In light of global climate change, there is a pressing need to understand and predict the capacity of populations to respond to rising temperatures. Metabolic rate is a key trait that is likely to influence the ability to cope with climate change. Yet, empirical and theoretical work on metabolic rate responses to temperature changes has so far produced mixed results and conflicting predictions.

  2. Our study addresses this issue using a novel approach of comparing fish populations in geothermally warmed lakes and adjacent ambient-temperature lakes in Iceland. This unique ‘natural experiment’ provides repeated and independent examples of populations experiencing contrasting thermal environments for many generations over a small geographic scale, thereby avoiding the confounding factors associated with latitudinal or elevational comparisons. Using Icelandic sticklebacks from three warm and three cold habitats, we measured individual metabolic rates across a range of acclimation temperatures to obtain reaction norms for each population.

  3. We found a general pattern for a lower standard metabolic rate in sticklebacks from warm habitats when measured at a common temperature, as predicted by Krogh’s rule. Metabolic rate differences between warm- and cold-habitat sticklebacks were more pronounced at more extreme acclimation temperatures, suggesting the release of cryptic genetic variation upon exposure to novel conditions, which can reveal hidden evolutionary potential. We also found a stronger divergence in metabolic rate between thermal habitats in allopatry than sympatry, indicating that gene flow may constrain physiological adaptation when dispersal between warm and cold habitats is possible.

  4. In sum, our study suggests that fish may diverge toward a lower standard metabolic rate in a warming world, but this might depend on connectivity and gene flow between different thermal habitats.

Footnotes

  • The title has been reworded, and more details have been added to the Introduction, Methods, and Discussion sections.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted November 30, 2019.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Multigenerational exposure to elevated temperatures leads to a reduction in standard metabolic rate in the wild
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
Share
Multigenerational exposure to elevated temperatures leads to a reduction in standard metabolic rate in the wild
Natalie Pilakouta, Shaun S. Killen, Bjarni K. Kristjánsson, Skúli Skúlason, Jan Lindström, Neil B. Metcalfe, Kevin J. Parsons
bioRxiv 749986; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/749986
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Multigenerational exposure to elevated temperatures leads to a reduction in standard metabolic rate in the wild
Natalie Pilakouta, Shaun S. Killen, Bjarni K. Kristjánsson, Skúli Skúlason, Jan Lindström, Neil B. Metcalfe, Kevin J. Parsons
bioRxiv 749986; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/749986

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Physiology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (1527)
  • Biochemistry (2480)
  • Bioengineering (1739)
  • Bioinformatics (9683)
  • Biophysics (3903)
  • Cancer Biology (2972)
  • Cell Biology (4195)
  • Clinical Trials (135)
  • Developmental Biology (2627)
  • Ecology (4102)
  • Epidemiology (2031)
  • Evolutionary Biology (6898)
  • Genetics (5206)
  • Genomics (6501)
  • Immunology (2184)
  • Microbiology (6945)
  • Molecular Biology (2753)
  • Neuroscience (17282)
  • Paleontology (126)
  • Pathology (427)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (706)
  • Physiology (1057)
  • Plant Biology (2489)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (643)
  • Synthetic Biology (831)
  • Systems Biology (2690)
  • Zoology (430)