Publication Date:
2018-03-16
Description:
The presented data on indirect and direct calorimetry in Halicryptus spinulosus, a species with prominent ecological significance in parts of the Baltic Sea, provide a basis for a better understanding of the metabolic adaptation of these animals to low oxygen availability in their environment. Metabolic rates in H. spinulosus were measured respirometrically as oxygen consumption and calorimetrically as heat dissipation. Oxygen uptake rates are in the range of M O2 = 3.81 ± 1.37 μmol O2·g−1 dry mass·h−1. Upon reimmersion into normoxic seawater after an anoxic incubation of 7 days, the animals exhibit an overshoot of oxygen consumption by a factor of 2.4. It takes at least 2 days for the animals to balance their oxygen consumption to previously measured rates.
Direct calorimetry exhibits different strategies of H. spinulosus to cope with declining oxygen and anoxia. During the first 2 transitional days to anoxia in the calorimeter, the animals decreased heat dissipation moderately down to 53.4 and 26%, respectively, of aerobic values. The animals are not necessarily quiescent at the beginning of anoxia, but at the end of the experiments after 14 days metabolic rates have dropped substantially down to ≈2% of normoxic values. These findings are discussed with regard to an effective adaption to frequently changing oxygen regimes in deeper parts of the Baltic Sea.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
