Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001
| SS35 Biological and Ecological Responses to Low Oxygen in Constant and Fluctuating Environments (Spatial and Temporal Connections) |
| Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 10:15:00 AM |
| Location: La Cienega |
| Childress, J, J, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, Childres@lifesci.ucsb.edu |
| Thuesen, E, V, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, USA, |
| Seibel, B, A, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, USA, |
| ADAPTATIONS OF PELAGIC ANIMALS TO STABLE LOW OXYGEN IN THE OCEANIC OXYGEN MINIMA |
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| Oceanic oxygen minima have very low oxygen conditions which are apparently stable over time periods of at least thousands of years at depths from about 300 to 1000 m over vast areas of the oceans. Fishes, crustaceans, and cephalopods have adapted to these conditions largely through organ level physiological adaptations which enable them to rely primarily on aerobic metabolism down to oxygen concentrations as low as 0.15 ml/l. This is facilitated by the lower oxygen consumption rates of species living at oxygen minimum layer depths, but this reduction is not an adaptation to the low oxygen availability. One major question that has received little attention is how less complex organisms, such as various gelatinous taxa, adapt to low oxygen concentrations. Preliminary data will be presented showing excellent regulatory abilities in oceanic ctenophores. |
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