ORCID
- Oliver Tills: 0000-0001-8527-8383
- Simon Rundle: 0000-0002-9570-7070
- Manuela Truebano: 0000-0003-2586-6524
Abstract
Thermal performance curves (TPCs) provide a powerful framework to assess the evolution of thermal sensitivity in populations exposed to divergent selection regimes across latitude. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the extent to which physiological adjustments that compensate for latitudinal temperature variation (metabolic cold adaptation; MCA) may alter the shape of TPCs, including potential repercussion on upper thermal limits. To address this, we compared TPCs for cardiac activity in latitudinally-separated populations of the intertidal periwinkle Littorina saxatilis. We applied a non-linear TPC modelling approach to explore how different metrics governing the shape of TPCs varied systematically in response to local adaptation and thermal acclimation. Both critical upper limits, and the temperatures at which cardiac performance was maximised, were higher in the northernmost (cold-adapted) population and displayed a countergradient latitudinal trend which was most pronounced following acclimation to low temperatures. We interpret this response as a knock-on consequence of increased standard metabolic rate in high latitude populations, indicating that physiological compensation associated with MCA may indirectly influence variation in upper thermal limits across latitude. Our study highlights the danger of assuming that variation in any one aspect of the TPC is adaptive without appropriate mechanistic and ecological context.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2023-03-10
Publication Title
Science of the Total Environment
Volume
863
ISSN
0048-9697
Acceptance Date
2022-12-08
Deposit Date
2023-02-14
Embargo Period
2023-02-15
Funding
The authors thank Marie Palmer for technical support, James Kennedy for the collection and shipment of specimens from Iceland and Robin Dwane for assistance with collection in Scotland. This work was funded by the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth. E.L.R. was funded by FONDECYT grant 1211113 and ANID PIA/BASAL FB0002 Line 3. J.G. was funded by a JIN project (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, code RTI2018-101274-J-I00). E.R. was supported by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (CGL2016-75482-P), Xunta de Galicia (GRC, ED431C 2020-05) and Centro singular de investigación de Galicia accreditation 2019-2022, and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund – ERDF, “A way to make Europe”). O.T. was funded by a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/T01962X/1).
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Dwane, C., Rezende, E., Tills, O., Galindo, J., Rolán-Alvarez, E., Rundle, S., & Truebano, M. (2023) 'Thermodynamic effects drive countergradient responses in the thermal performance of Littorina saxatilis across latitude', Science of the Total Environment, 863. Available at: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160877
