Meeting Abstract

27.1  Monday, Jan. 4  Evaluating the affects of climate change on larval locomotor performance in Ambystoma maculatum ALMEIDA, Suellen*; IRSCHICK, Duncan J.; Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst; Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst salmeida@cns.umass.edu

Variation in temperature has a profound effect on many aspects of animal physiology and whole-organism performance. For example, temperature can affect many physiological variables such as metabolic rate, digestion rate, and the effectiveness of muscular performance among other physiological processes. As climate change becomes more unpredictable it is fundamental to comprehend how organisms will react in relation to temperature-related stress and how temperature affects whole organism performance, as these traits are often crucial to survival. Here, we investigate how increased developmental temperature affects development and locomotion in spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum). We collected eggs of spotted salamanders from the western Massachusetts area, and maintained both the eggs and the resulting larvae in two different temperature regimes (15°C and 20°C) until the larvae had reached four weeks of age. The 15°C group was the control group, since a temperature of 15°C is similar to the natural developmental temperature these animals are exposed to in the wild, whereas the experimental temperature of 20 °C was significantly higher than what they would normally experience, but could be relevant for ponds that experience warming. We tested how this alteration of developmental temperature affected both the rate and progress of development, and the burst speed of larvae. We found profound effects of increased developmental temperature on the overall speed and progress of development, and some instances of impaired performance.