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Evaluation of thermal stress in tropical marine organisms in the context of climate warming

datacite.subject.fosCiências Naturais::Ciências Biológicaspt_PT
dc.contributor.advisorVinagre, Catarina Maria Batista, 1978-
dc.contributor.advisorDiniz, Mário
dc.contributor.advisorCabral, Henrique N., 1969-
dc.contributor.authorMadeira, Carolina
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-17T16:15:03Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.date.submitted2018
dc.descriptionTese de doutoramento, Biologia (Biologia Marinha e Aquacultura), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2018pt_PT
dc.description.abstractThe marine environment is already registering the impacts of climate change. The current increase in global temperature since pre-industrial times is disrupting life in the oceans, from the tropics to the poles. The key impacts for marine species as warming continues include shifting home ranges and altered life histories due to the direct effects of temperature on metabolism, life cycles and behaviour of organisms. These pervasive effects on species will also have a significant impact in the goods and services provided by the ocean to human society. However, the vulnerability of tropical marine species (e.g. reef fish and non-coral invertebrates) towards ocean warming is still far from clear, not only due to the gap of knowledge on general ecology and biology of most tropical species, but also because there is a lack of integrative approaches addressing physiological and molecular thermal compensation mechanisms, as well as a lack of adequate or optimized assessment tools for tropical habitats. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to assess the vulnerability of marine species (fish, crustaceans and gastropods) from tropical reef environments to ocean warming (gradual temperature increase and heat waves), using molecular- (proteins and antioxidant enzymes), cellular (lipid peroxidation), tissue- (energy reserves), organism- (condition, critical thermal maxima) and sample population (acclimation rate, thermal safety margins, mortality) parameters to measure stress and performance. General methodologies included collecting animals from tropical shallow waters with hand nets, experimental assays testing acute and chronic thermal stress and thermal tolerance in the lab (following control and warming scenarios), periodic samplings of several tissue types and biomarker quantification (sample homogenization and posterior immunoassays, kinetic colorimetric assays and elemental analyses by isotope ratio mass spectrometry). Mathematical calculations were used for several performance parameters as well as stress indices. Multivariate (as well as multifactorial) statistical analyses were then performed for all datasets. Results revealed that chronically increased water temperatures (30˚C – 32˚C) elicited a time-dependent cellular stress response in all species tested, where chaperones and antioxidant enzymes showed the greatest fold-changes. The latter molecular responses were highly inducible in vital organs such as gills, liver and muscle, suggesting a relation to tissue function, metabolic- and oxygen diffusion rate which determine the flux of reactive oxygen species and damage potential in cells. Additionally, animals subjected to increased temperatures also showed poorer health status and decreased body condition with lower energy reserves when compared to control temperatures, although mortality levels remained unchanged. An acute exposure to increased thermal load revealed plastic upper thermal limits. However, thermal safety margins were generally low for shallow water species in reef environments, indicating a low ability to tolerate further future warming. This means that organisms will have to rely on subtidal habitats for thermal refugia as shallow water habitats (e.g. tide pools) become ecological traps where animals cannot escape heat. Overall, the results point to the importance of monitoring thermal change in the wild to provide decision makers with appropriate and detailed information to sustain conservation efforts in fragile tropical marine ecosystems.pt_PT
dc.description.sponsorshipFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), SFRH/BD/92975/2013pt_PT
dc.identifier.tid101504713pt_PT
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/35139
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.subjectTeses de doutoramento - 2018pt_PT
dc.titleEvaluation of thermal stress in tropical marine organisms in the context of climate warmingpt_PT
dc.typedoctoral thesis
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/3599-PPCDT/PTDC%2FMAR-EST%2F2141%2F2012/PT
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876/UID%2FMulti%2F04378%2F2013/PT
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876/UID%2FMAR%2F04292%2F2013/PT
oaire.fundingStream3599-PPCDT
oaire.fundingStream5876
oaire.fundingStream5876
person.familyNameGusmão Coito Madeira
person.givenNameSara Carolina
person.identifierIpgi3X4AAAAJ&hl
person.identifier.ciencia-id2419-0840-DBED
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1632-634X
person.identifier.scopus-author-id55345528500
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typedoctoralThesispt_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublication1e6baa2d-fde9-459a-88ec-842fa51aef11
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery1e6baa2d-fde9-459a-88ec-842fa51aef11
relation.isProjectOfPublication9ac9ec61-ef52-4e19-a2d5-6d469e77bdcf
relation.isProjectOfPublicationaaa5b3a4-66df-4968-966c-2a7b18d63b67
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thesis.degree.nameDoutoramento em Biologiapt_PT

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