Meeting Abstract
Climate changes models predict that Earth will continue to see increasing temperatures over the coming decades. However, the effect that such elevated temperatures will have on organisms is in many cases hypothetical. The impact of increased temperatures on ectotherms is even more critical to understand as they cannot regulate their own body temperatures. Because of these reasons, understanding how future climate change affects the ability of organisms to alter their energy budgets is critically important. This study aims to determine the effect of elevated temperatures on the basal immunological activity of the wolf spider, Tigrosa helluo. Female spiders with all eight legs intact were collected at night from the St. Edward’s University campus. Specimens were massed and stored overnight in plastic crispers at room temperature. The following morning, spiders were transferred to environmental chambers that were either at ambient temperature (36 degrees Celsius) or an elevated temperature (42 degrees Celsius). Spiders were offered one cricket on day three in the incubators and had water provided ad libitum. After five days in the appropriate incubator, spiders were massed again and had their hemolymph extracted for immunological assessment. Preliminary data indicates that spiders in the elevated temperature gained weight from consuming prey, as did the ambient temperature spiders, but elevated temperature specimens then lost weight by the end of the experiment. Anecdotally protein concentration appears to be lower in spiders held at an elevated temperature. Data collection is ongoing and future assays will include prophenoloxidase activity (a protein commonly associated with immune activity among invertebrates) and peroxidase activity (an antioxidant).
