Meeting Abstract
As ocean temperatures steadily rise, marine species will be exposed to more extreme diel and seasonal fluctuations. These overall temperature increases may expose temperate reef species like the Bluebanded Goby (Lythrypnus dalli) to temperatures that are at or over their physiological optimum. Coping with temperatures above physiological optimum may have consequences that result in costly trade-offs between metabolism and processes such as growth and reproduction. However, basic metabolic rates of reef fishes with limited movement are relatively unknown. Using respirometry, we estimated basic oxygen consumption (Vf), mass-specific oxygen consumption (MO2), and metabolic rate (MR) of L.dalli at three different temperatures (13°C, 16°C and 20°C). To date, 28 replicate trials have been conducted and preliminary findings show significant increases of Vf, MO2, and MR with temperature. Ongoing work is focused on refining the estimate of how quickly metabolism increases with temperature and any subsequent changes in energy allocation of temperate reef species.
