Meeting Abstract
Invasive species often have physiological traits that allow them to survive potentially harsh conditions of transport to new locations. Potamopyrgus antipodarum, a worldwide invader of fresh and brackish water habitats, can close its shell to wait out unfavorable conditions during transport, a trait that likely increases survival but subjects it to hypoxia. This study investigates the effect of water temperature and oxygen content on oxygen consumption rates to understand if this snail regulates or conforms to ambient oxygen conditions as a mechanism to survive stressful transport conditions. Oxy-regulators have the ability to maintain their respiration rates while the oxygen concentration decreases, while oxy-conformers reduce their respiration rates with decreasing oxygen levels. We hypothesized that this snail would be a conformer as are some other aquatic invasive species. Oxygen consumption was measured during progressive hypoxia and metabolic rate calculated relative to ambient oxygen concentration to test for regulation versus conformity. Respiration rate decreased with decreasing oxygen concentration for all measurement temperatures suggesting that these snails are oxygen conformers and that this strategy is not temperature dependent. Decreased respiration rates may signal a shutdown of metabolic processes during hypoxia, thus allowing snails to wait out stressful conditions on limited oxygen supplies by conforming. This strategy for surviving oxygen limitation is a trait that may lead to increased invasiveness for some species.
