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Published March 22, 2023 | Supplemental Material + Submitted
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Transgenerational exposure to deoxygenation and warming disrupts mate-detection in Gammarus locusta

Abstract

Ocean deoxygenation and warming have been shown to pose a growing threat to the health of marine organisms and ecosystems. Yet, the potential for acclimation and adaptation to these threats remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of transgenerational exposure to reduced oxygen availability and elevated seawater temperature on the chemosensory-dependent mating mechanisms of male amphipodsGammarus locusta. After exposure, the number of individuals that reached adulthood (in F0 and F2) was gauged, and adult males from F0 and F1 were subjected to behavioral trials to assess their capacity of long-distance female cue detection through quantification of (i) response time; (ii) first direction of movement; (iii) activity rate and (iv) proportion of time spent in female scent cues. Ocean warming induced mortality (especially in F2), and reduced oxygen availability had adverse effects on each of the investigated behavioral traits, which were amplified when combined with elevated temperature. Still, when compared to F0, the F1 generation demonstrated more adaptability (i.e., higher activity rate and preference for female odors) to the combination of the two stressors, suggesting positive carry-over effects. Nevertheless, full recovery to control levels was not observed. Altogether, this study indicates that future scenarios of ocean deoxygenation and warming have the potential to disrupt chemosensory-dependent mate-detection in amphipods, but also suggests possible behavioral adaptations. We call for greater research efforts on long-term impacts of ocean change on the behavioral and physiological processes of benthic coastal communities.

Additional Information

The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license. We acknowledge our colleagues from Laboratório Marítimo da Guia who provided additional input to make this experiment possible. This work was supported by project ASCEND— PTDC/BIA-BMA/28609/2017 to TR and JRP co-funded by FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P, Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa, Portugal 2020 and the European Union Regional Development Fund within the project LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-028609, MARE (UIDB/04292/2020) and ARNET—Aquatic Research Network Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0069/2020). SN was supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. T.R. was supported by FCT research contract (DL57/2016/CP1479/CT0023). JRP was funded by the FCT Scientific Employment Stimulus programme (2021.01030.CEECIND). BPP, FOB and EO were supported by PhD fellowships by FCT (2021.06590.BD, SFRH/BD/147294/2019, and UI/BD/151019/2021, respectively). The authors have declared no competing interest.

Attached Files

Submitted - 2023.02.21.529266v2.full.pdf

Supplemental Material - media-1.pdf

Supplemental Material - media-2.docx

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Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023