Stress tolerance of a subtropical Crassostrea virginica population to the combined effects of temperature and salinity

The combination of salinity and temperature has synergistic effects on virtually all aspects of the biology of estuarine organisms. Of interest were site-specific characteristics in the response of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, from the St. Lucie River Estuary to the interactive effects...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Estuarine, coastal and shelf science coastal and shelf science, 2008-08, Vol.79 (1), p.179-185
Main Authors: Heilmayer, Olaf, Digialleonardo, Julian, Qian, Lianfen, Roesijadi, Guritno
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Brackish
Brackish water ecosystems
condition index
Crassostrea virginica
eastern oyster
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Marine
Mollusca
RNA/DNA ratio
stress
Synecology
temperature tolerance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The combination of salinity and temperature has synergistic effects on virtually all aspects of the biology of estuarine organisms. Of interest were site-specific characteristics in the response of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, from the St. Lucie River Estuary to the interactive effects of temperature and salinity. This estuary, one of the largest on the central east coast of Florida, is strongly influenced by anthropogenic modifications due to management needs to control the patterns of freshwater flow in the St. Lucie River watershed. Crassostrea virginica is designated a valued ecosystem component for monitoring the health of this estuary. Our approach used a multidimensional response surface design to study the effects of temperature and salinity on sublethal measures of oyster performance: (1) body condition index as an overall indicator of bioenergetic status and (2) the RNA/DNA ratio as a biochemical indicator of cellular stress. The results showed that there was a greater ability to withstand extreme salinity conditions at lower temperatures. However, there were no site-specific attributes that differentiated the response of the St. Lucie Estuary population from populations along the distribution range. Condition index was a less variable response than the RNA/DNA ratio, and the final models for mean condition index and the RNA/DNA ratios explained 77.3 and 35.8% of the respective variances.
ISSN:0272-7714
1096-0015
DOI:10.1016/j.ecss.2008.03.022