SPICER, J.I.: Development of cardiac function in crustaceans: patterns, processes and implications

While our knowledge of cardiovascular function in adult crustaceans is reasonable, our understanding of how that function comes into being during ontogeny is still, quite literally, embryonic. In this presentation I will briefly outline the different patterns of the onset and development of cardiac function in different crustacean groups. Thereafter our current understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the development of cardiac regulation will be presented together with an assessment of future research priorities. Finally the wider importance of studying the development of cardiac function will be explored. This includes using the crustacean heart as a model for studying the ontogeny of physiological regulation and linking life history characteristics to heart rate variability during early development.