QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online May 24, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 2361-2370 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01023

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Klok, C. J. Articles by Chown, S. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Klok, C. J. Articles by Chown, S. L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Upper thermal tolerance and oxygen limitation in terrestrial arthropods

C. Jaco Klok, Brent J. Sinclair and Steven L. Chown^*

Spatial, Physiological and Conservation Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: slchown{at}sun.ac.za)

Accepted 8 April 2004

The hypothesis of oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance proposes that critical temperatures are set by a transition to anaerobic metabolism, and that upper and lower tolerances are therefore coupled. Moreover, this hypothesis has been dubbed a unifying general principle and extended from marine to terrestrial ectotherms. By contrast, in insects the upper and lower limits are decoupled, suggesting that the oxygen limitation hypothesis might not be as general as proposed. However, no direct tests of this hypothesis or its predictions have been undertaken in terrestrial species. We use a terrestrial isopod (Armadillidium vulgare) and a tenebrionid beetle (Gonocephalum simplex) to test the prediction that thermal tolerance should vary with oxygen partial pressure. Whilst in the isopod critical thermal maximum declined with declining oxygen concentration, this was not the case in the beetle. Efficient oxygen delivery via a tracheal system makes oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance, at a whole organism level, unlikely in insects. By contrast, oxygen limitation of thermal tolerances is expected to apply to species, like the isopod, in which the circulatory system contributes significantly to oxygen delivery. Because insects dominate terrestrial systems, oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance cannot be considered pervasive in this habitat, although it is a characteristic of marine species.

Key words: critical thermal limits, critical thermal maximum (CT_max), oxygen limitation, tracheated arthropods, marine, terrestrial

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Calosi, D. T Bilton, and J. I Spicer Thermal tolerance, acclimatory capacity and vulnerability to global climate change Biol Lett, February 23, 2008; 4(1): 99 - 102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. G. Folk, L. A. Hoekstra, and G. W. Gilchrist Critical thermal maxima in knockdown-selected Drosophila: are thermal endpoints correlated? J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2007; 210(15): 2649 - 2656. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Malmendal, J. Overgaard, J. G. Bundy, J. G. Sorensen, N. Chr. Nielsen, V. Loeschcke, and M. Holmstrup Metabolomic profiling of heat stress: hardening and recovery of homeostasis in Drosophila Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, July 1, 2006; 291(1): R205 - R212. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. S. TERBLANCHE, C. JACO KLOK, E. S. KRAFSUR, and S. L. CHOWN Phenotypic plasticity and geographic variation in thermal tolerance and water loss of the tsetse glossina pallidipes (Diptera: glossinidae): implications for distribution modelling. Am J Trop Med Hyg, May 1, 2006; 74(5): 786 - 794. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. S. Terblanche and S. L. Chown The relative contributions of developmental plasticity and adult acclimation to physiological variation in the tsetse fly, Glossina pallidipes (Diptera, Glossinidae) J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2006; 209(6): 1064 - 1073. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. E. Dillon and M. R. Frazier Drosophila melanogaster locomotion in cold thin air J. Exp. Biol., January 15, 2006; 209(2): 364 - 371. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]