ALBERT

Description: Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are calcifying red macroalgae that play important ecological roles including stabilisation of reef frameworks and provision of settlement cues for a range of marine invertebrates. Previous research into the responses of CCA to ocean warming (OW) and ocean acidification (OA) have found magnitude of effect to be species-specific. Response to OW and OA could be linked to divergent underlying molecular processes across species. Here we show Sporolithon durum, a species that exhibits low sensitivity to climate stressors, had little change in metabolic performance and did not significantly alter the expression of any genes when exposed to temperature and pH perturbations. In contrast, Porolithon onkodes, a major coral reef builder, reduced photosynthetic rates and had a labile transcriptomic response with over 400 significantly differentially expressed genes, with differential regulation of genes relating to physiological processes such as carbon acquisition and metabolism. The differential gene expression detected in P. onkodes implicates possible key metabolic pathways, including the pentose phosphate pathway, in the stress response of this species. We suggest S. durum is more resistant to OW and OA than P. onkodes, which demonstrated a high sensitivity to climate stressors and may have limited ability for acclimatisation. Understanding changes in gene expression in relation to physiological processes of CCA could help us understand and predict how different species will respond to, and persist in, future ocean conditions predicted for 2100.

Description: Two species of clams, Mya arenaria (1) and Mya truncata (2), were hand collected from Métis-sur-Mer, Québec, Canada (48° 40' 4.6092" N, 68° 1' 5.9484" W) and by SCUBA diving (~ 10 m) at Godbout, Québec, Canada (49° 19' 25.626" N, 67° 35' 17.034" W) respectively. The clams were brought to the wet labs of the Maurice-Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, Québec for acclimatization to experimental conditions. A clams' ability (1) or inability (0) to bury itself into the substrate (sand) was observed visually to control for it's possible relationship to clam performance variability, as well as their common garden tank (pre.acclim) to control for possible tank variability. After 〉 1 month in this pre-acclimatization phase, during the months of november and december 2020, clams were measured for morophometrics (length, width, and height) with a vernier caliper to control for the relationship between size and clam physiology, and transferred to the experimental system and subjected to a combination of two stressors: one of seven levels of heatwave (2, 7, 12, 17, 22, 27, or 32 °C) crossed with one of two levels of harvesting (with, without). The true temperature was recorded (truetemp) with HOBO 8K pendant data loggers to measure the variation in real temperature experienced by the clams in each tank. Four tank replicates were used for each of the fourteen (7 x 2) experimental treatments to account for possible tank effects. In each of these tanks (1-4), eight individuals of each species were placed together to increase replication. At the end of the experimental period, mortality was assessed by prodding clams in each tank for each species (mya_spp_heatwave_mortality_data) as a measure of response to the stressors. In surviving individuals, three tissues -- mantle (m), gills (g) and posterior adductor muscle (a) were dissected from each individual to asses inter organ differences and the tissues were flash freezed for metabolomics analysis. A targeted metabolomics analysis was run over the months of March to May 2021 at the Iso-BioKem laboratories in Rimouski, Québec, Canada to quantify 48 metabolites with an Agilent 1260 Infinity II high performance liquid chromatographer (mya_spp_heatwave_metabolomics_data) as a measure of response to the stressors.

Description: Two species of clams, Mya arenaria (1) and Mya truncata (2), were hand collected from Métis-sur-Mer, Québec, Canada (48° 40' 4.6092" N, 68° 1' 5.9484" W) and by SCUBA diving (~ 10 m) at Godbout, Québec, Canada (49° 19' 25.626" N, 67° 35' 17.034" W) respectively. The clams were brought to the wet labs of the Maurice-Lamontagne Institute in Mont-Joli, Québec for acclimatization to experimental conditions. A clams' ability (1) or inability (0) to bury itself into the substrate (sand) was observed visually to control for it's possible relationship to clam performance variability, as well as their common garden tank (pre.acclim) to control for possible tank variability. After 〉 1 month in this pre-acclimatization phase, during the months of november and december 2020, clams were measured for morophometrics (length, width, and height) with a vernier caliper to control for the relationship between size and clam physiology, and transferred to the experimental system and subjected to a combination of two stressors: one of seven levels of heatwave (2, 7, 12, 17, 22, 27, or 32 °C) crossed with one of two levels of harvesting (with, without). The true temperature was recorded (truetemp) with HOBO 8K pendant data loggers to measure the variation in real temperature experienced by the clams in each tank. Four tank replicates were used for each of the fourteen (7 x 2) experimental treatments to account for possible tank effects. In each of these tanks (1-4), eight individuals of each species were placed together to increase replication. At the end of the experimental period, mortality was assessed by prodding clams in each tank for each species (mya_spp_heatwave_mortality_data) as a measure of response to the stressors. In surviving individuals, three tissues -- mantle (m), gills (g) and posterior adductor muscle (a) were dissected from each individual to asses inter organ differences and the tissues were flash freezed for metabolomics analysis. A targeted metabolomics analysis was run over the months of March to May 2021 at the Iso-BioKem laboratories in Rimouski, Québec, Canada to quantify 48 metabolites with an Agilent 1260 Infinity II high performance liquid chromatographer (mya_spp_heatwave_metabolomics_data) as a measure of response to the stressors.