Title Physiological constraints on the life cycle and distribution of the Antarctic fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini
Author Hawes, T.C.; Worland, M.R.; Bale, J.S.
Author Affil Hawes, T.C., University of Birmingham, School of Biosciences, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Other: British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom
Source Polar Biology, 31(12), p.1531-1538, . Publisher: Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany. ISSN: 0722- 4060
Publication Date Nov. 2008
Notes In English. 27 refs. GeoRef Acc. No: 288442
Index Terms Antarctica--Adelaide Island; Antarctica--Antarctic Peninsula; Southern Ocean; Adelaide Island; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarctica; Arthropoda; Crustacea; ecology; habitat; ice; Invertebrata; Mandibulata; physiology; Rothera Point; salinity; sea ice; temperature
Abstract Maturation to adulthood and successful reproduction in the Antarctic fairy shrimp, Branchinecta gaini, must be completed within a physiologically challenging temporal window of ca. 2.5 months in the southern Antarctic Peninsula. Although adults show considerable metabolic opportunism at positive temperatures, little is known of their tolerance of two physiological insults potentially typical to pool life in the maritime Antarctic: sub-zero temperatures and salinity. B. gaini are freeze-avoiding crustaceans with temperatures of crystallization (T cs) of -5°C. No antifreeze proteins were detected in the haemolymph. Adults osmoregulate in relation to temperature, but rapid mortality in saline solutions of even low concentration, indicate they cannot osmoregulate in relation to salinity. Survival of ice encasement at temperatures above their Tc was found to be pressure but not time dependent. (modif. j. abstr.)
URL http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00300-008-0493-1
Publication Type journal article
Record ID 85184