Advisory Committee Chair
James B McClintock
Advisory Committee Members
Maria Byrne
Charles D Amsler
John M Lawrence
Stephen A Watts
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2016
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
Sea urchins (Class Echinoidea) play important economic and ecological roles in the marine ecosystems they inhabit. However, climate change is causing seawater temperatures to increase and pH and the saturation state of polymorphs of calcium calcite to decrease at unprecedented rates, and these changes may have serious implications for the fitness and survival of sea urchin populations. The purpose of the present dissertation was to determine the effects of ocean warming and acidification on the physiology and behavior of sea urchins. This research was conducted on three sea urchin taxa (Lytechinus variegatus, Heliocidaris erythrogramma, and Sterechinus spp.) representing species that are disproportionately experiencing the effects of climate change, and investigated effects spanning several biological levels of organization, from microbial to ecological. At the microbial level, chronic exposure to elevated seawater temperatures shifted the community structure and function of microbiota associated with Lytechinus variegatus. Changes were also observed at the physiological level. Heliocidaris erythrogramma exposed to near-future warming and acidification exhibited characteristics of a compromised immune system with reduced immune cell counts and a capacity to inhibit a bacterial pathogen linked to disease outbreaks in sea urchins. Additionally, L. variegatus chronically exposed to ocean warming exhibited a reduced feeding rate. On the behavioral level, these results demonstrate that although L. variegatus can maintain righting and covering behaviors under acute exposure to elevated seawater temperatures, these behaviors are compromised under chronic exposure to IPCC predicted near-future temperature. Finally, the echinoid Sterechinus spp. may be increasing covering behavior in response to increased predation pressure from king crabs moving into the Antarctic slope and shelf waters as climate change elevates seawater temperature. Overall, these results demonstrate the wide range of effects that climate change may have on sea urchin populations, as well as the importance of incorporating acclimation time when exposing sea urchins to near-future conditions, in order to most accurately predict the future of sea urchins under rapidly warming and acidifying ocean conditions.
Recommended Citation
Brothers, Cecilia Joy, "Sea urchins under predicted near-future ocean conditions: the effects of ocean warming and acidification on physiology and behavior" (2016). All ETDs from UAB. 1268.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/1268