Climate change threatens the world’s marine protected areas

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a primary management tool for mitigating threats to marine biodiversity1,2. MPAs and the species they protect, however, are increasingly being impacted by climate change. Here we show that, despite local protections, the warming associated with continued business-as-usual emissions (RCP8.5)3 will likely result in further habitat and species losses throughout low-latitude and tropical MPAs4,5. With continued business-as-usual emissions, mean sea-surface temperatures within MPAs are projected to increase 0.035 °C per year and warm an additional 2.8 °C by 2100. Under these conditions, the time of emergence (the year when sea-surface temperature and oxygen concentration exceed natural variability) is mid-century in 42% of 309 no-take marine reserves. Moreover, projected warming rates and the existing ‘community thermal safety margin’ (the inherent buffer against warming based on the thermal sensitivity of constituent species) both vary among ecoregions and with latitude. The community thermal safety margin will be exceeded by 2050 in the tropics and by 2150 for many higher latitude MPAs. Importantly, the spatial distribution of emergence is stressor-specific. Hence, rearranging MPAs to minimize exposure to one stressor could well increase exposure to another. Continued business-as-usual emissions will likely disrupt many marine ecosystems, reducing the benefits of MPAs

Physiological basis of temperature-dependent biogeography: trade-offs in muscle design and performance in polar ectotherms

SUMMARYPolar, especially Antarctic, oceans host ectothermic fish and invertebrates characterized by low-to-moderate levels of motor activity; maximum performance is reduced compared with that in warmer habitats. The present review attempts to identify the trade-offs involved in adaptation to cold in the light of progress in the physiology of thermal tolerance. Recent evidence suggests that oxygen limitations and a decrease in aerobic scope are the first indications of tolerance limits at both low and high temperature extremes. The cold-induced reduction in aerobic capacity is compensated for at the cellular level by elevated mitochondrial densities, accompanied by molecular and membrane adjustments for the maintenance of muscle function. Particularly in the muscle of pelagic Antarctic fish, among notothenioids, the mitochondrial volume densities are among the highest known for vertebrates and are associated with cold compensation of aerobic metabolic pathways, a reduction in anaerobic scope, rapid recovery from exhaustive exercise and enhanced lipid stores as well as a preference for lipid catabolism characterized by high energy efficiency at high levels of ambient oxygen supply. Significant anaerobic capacity is still found at the very low end of the activity spectrum, e.g. among benthic eelpout (Zoarcideae).In contrast to the cold-adapted eurytherms of the Arctic, polar (especially Antarctic) stenotherms minimize standard metabolic rate and, as a precondition, the aerobic capacity per milligram of mitochondrial protein,thereby minimizing oxygen demand. Cost reductions are supported by the downregulation of the cost and flexibility of acid—base regulation. At maintained factorial scopes, the reduction in standard metabolic rate will cause net aerobic scope to be lower than in temperate species. Loss of contractile myofilaments and, thereby, force results from space constraints due to excessive mitochondrial proliferation. On a continuum between low and moderately high levels of muscular activity, polar fish have developed characteristics of aerobic metabolism equivalent to those of high-performance swimmers in warmer waters. However, they only reach low performance levels despite taking aerobic design to an extreme.</jats:p

Changes in metabolic rate and N excretion in the marine invertebrate<i>Sipunculus nudus</i>under conditions of environmental hypercapnia

SUMMARYIncreased CO2 partial pressures (hypercapnia) as well as hypoxia are natural features of marine environments like the intertidal zone. Nevertheless little is known about the specific effects of CO2 on metabolism, except for the well-described effects on acid—base variables and regulation. Accordingly, the sediment-dwelling worm Sipunculus nudus was used as an experimental model to investigate the correlation of acid—base-induced metabolic depression and protein/amino acid catabolism, by determining the rates of oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion and O/N ratios in non-perfused preparations of body wall musculature at various levels of extra- and intracellular pH, PCO2 and [HCO3-]. A decrease in extracellular pH from control level (7.9) to 6.7 caused a reduction in aerobic metabolic rate of both normocapnic and hypercapnic tissues by 40-45 %. O/N ratios of 4.0-4.5 under control conditions indicate that amino acid catabolism meets the largest fraction of aerobic energy demand. A significant 10-15 % drop in ammonia excretion, a simultaneous reduction of O/N ratios and a transient accumulation of intracellular bicarbonate during transition to extreme acidosis suggest a reduction in net amino acid catabolism and a shift in the selection of amino acids used,favouring monoamino dicarboxylic acids and their amines (asparagine,glutamine, aspartic and glutamic acids). A drop in intracellular pH was identified as mediating this effect. In conclusion, the present data provide evidence for a regulatory role of intracellular pH in the selection of amino acids used by catabolism.</jats:p

Temperature-dependence of mitochondrial function and production of reactive oxygen species in the intertidal mud clam <i>Mya arenaria</i>

SUMMARY Mitochondrial respiration, energetic coupling to phosphorylation and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were studied in mitochondria isolated from the eurythermal bivalve Mya arenaria (Myoidea) from a low-shore intertidal population of the German Wadden Sea. Measurements were conducted both within the range of the habitat temperatures (5-15 °C) and when subjected to heat exposure at 20 °C and 25 °C. Experimental warming resulted in an increase in the rate of state 3 and state 4 respiration in isolated mitochondria. The highest respiratory coupling ratios (RCR) were found at 15 °C; at higher temperatures mitochondrial coupling decreased,and release of ROS doubled between 15 and 25 °C. ROS production was 2-3%of total oxygen consumption in state 3 (0.3-0.5 nmol ROS mg-1protein min-1) at the habitat temperature, reaching a maximum of 4.3 % of state 3 respiration and 7 % of oligomycin-induced state 4+respiration under heat stress. Thus, state 4 respiration, previously interpreted exclusively as a measure of proton leakage, included a significant contribution from ROS formation in this animal, especially under conditions of heat stress. Oxygen radical formation was directly dependent on temperature-controlled respiration rates in states 3 and 4 and inversely related to mitochondrial coupling (RCR+) in state 4. Mitochondrial ROS formation is therefore involved in cellular heat stress in this eurythermal marine ectotherm.</jats:p

Climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability

The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change