Physiology Commons^™

Physiological Performance Of Warm-Adapted Marine Ectotherms: Thermal Limits Of Mitochondrial Energy Transduction Efficiency, Eloy Martinez , Ph D., Eric H. Hendricks, Michael A. Menze, Joseph J. Torres

Eloy Martinez

Thermal regimes in aquatic systems have profound implications for the physiology of ectotherms. In particular, the effect of elevated temperatures on mitochondrial energy transduction (i.e. energy from carbon substrates to ATP) in tropical and subtropical teleosts may have profound consequences on organismal performance and population viability. Upper and lower whole-organism critical temperatures for teleosts suggest that subtropical and tropical species are not susceptible to the warming trends associated with climate change, but sub-lethal effects on energy transduction efficiency and population dynamics remain unclear. The goal of the present study was to compare the thermal sensitivity of processes associated with mitochondrial …