Acclimation to cyclic hypoxia improves thermal tolerance and copper survival in the caridean shrimp Palaemon varians

Abstract

In response to the continuous variation of environmental parameters, species must be able to adjust their physiology to overcome stressful conditions, a process known as acclimatization. Numerous laboratory studies have been conducted to understand and describe the mechanisms of acclimation to one environmental stressor (e.g. cyclic hypoxia), but currently our understanding of how acclimation to one stressor can change tolerance to a subsequent stressor is limited. Here, in two different experiments, we used the shrimp Palaemon varians to test how, following 28-days acclimation to cyclic hypoxia (mimicking a cyclic hypoxic regime currently found in its natural habitat), critical thermal maximum (CT_max) and sensitivity to copper (Cu²⁺) exposure (30 mgL^-1) changed in comparison to shrimp acclimated to normoxic conditions and then exposed to thermal stress or Cu²⁺. Acclimation to cyclic hypoxia improved both CT_max (~1 °C higher than controls) and survival to acute Cu²⁺ exposure (~30% higher than controls) and induced significant gene expression changes (i.e. up-regulation of heat shock protein 70 - HSP70, hypoxia inducible factor - HIF, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase - PEPCK, glucose 6-P transporter - G6Pt, metallothionein - Mt, and down-regulation of hemocyanin - Hem) in animals acclimated to cyclic hypoxia. Our results demonstrate how acclimation to cyclic hypoxia improved tolerance to subsequent stressors, highlighting the complexity of predicting organismal performance in variable (i.e. where multiple parameters can simultaneously change during the day) environments.

Keywords: Acclimation to hypoxia; Caridea; Copper survival; Temperature tolerance.