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Ecophysiological strategies of Antarctic intertidal invertebrates faced with freezing stress

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Abstract

Recent studies have revealed a previously unanticipated level of biodiversity present in the Antarctic littoral. Here, we report research on the ecophysiological strategies adopted by intertidal species that permit them to survive in this environment, presenting cold-tolerance data for the widest range of invertebrates published to date from the Antarctic intertidal zone. We found significant differences in levels of cold tolerance between species within this zone. However, and contrary to expectations, intraspecific comparisons of subtidal and intertidal groups of eight species found significant differences between groups in only three species. One species, the nemertean Antarctonemertes validum, showed evidence of the presence of antifreeze proteins (thermal hysteresis proteins), with 1.4°C of thermal hysteresis measured in its haemolymph. We found a strong inverse relationship across species between mass and supercooling point, and fitted a power law model to describe the data. The scaling exponent (0.3) in this model suggests a relationship between an animal’s supercooling point and its linear dimensions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dan Smale and Andrew Miller for winter quadrat excavations, the Rothera diving team for aid with SCUBA collections, Peter Rothery for assistance in model development and testing, Steve Coulson, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.

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Correspondence to C. L. Waller.

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Waller, C.L., Worland, M.R., Convey, P. et al. Ecophysiological strategies of Antarctic intertidal invertebrates faced with freezing stress. Polar Biol 29, 1077–1083 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0152-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0152-3

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