Vol. 64, 2025
Thermal Biology and Metabolic
Scope of Two Species of Juvenile Gastropod Mollusks Inhabiting Kelp
Forests
Ana
Denise Re-Araujo1,* , Fernando Díaz1,§ , J. Pablo Sánchez-Ovando1,§ , Fabiola Lafarga-de la Cruz2 , Laura Alvarez-Lee1 , and Luis Enrique
Angeles-Gonzalez1
doi:-
1Laboratorio
de Ecofisiología de Organismos Acuáticos, Departamento de Biotecnología
Marina, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de
Ensenada (CICESE), Baja California, 22860, México. *Correspondence:
E-mail: denisre@cicese.edu.mx (Re-Araujo)
E-mail: fdiaz@cicese.edu (Díaz); sanchezjp@cicese.edu.mx
(Sánchez-Ovando); ibeth@cicese.mx (Álvarez-Lee);
luis.angeles0612@gmail.com (Angeles-Gonzalez)
2Laboratorio de Genética Acuícola, Departamento de
Acuicultura, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior
de Ensenada (CICESE), Baja California, 22860, México. E-mail:
flafarga@cicese.mx (Lafarga-de la Cruz)
§FD and JPSO
contributed equally to this work.
(Received 16 March 2024 / Accepted 12 January 2025 / Published -- 2025)
Communicated by Gray A. Williams
Temperature is one of the main
abiotic factors that influence the growth, reproduction, food
availability, distribution, and survival of many species of marine
ectotherms. Megastraea undosa
and Megathura crenulata are
gastropod mollusks with economic, commercial, and biomedical importance
that are part of the kelp forest community in the temperate waters of
the northern Pacific of Mexico. As knowledge about the thermal biology
of these two species is scarce, this study aimed to determine the
effect of different acclimation temperatures on the thermal biology and
metabolic scope of these two species. 120 M. undosa juveniles were collected
from the wild and acclimated to four temperatures (13, 16, 19, and 22°C
± 1°C), while 90 M. crenulata
juveniles were cultured in an aquaculture facility (Stellar
Biotechnologies, Inc) and acclimated to three temperatures (17, 20, and
23°C ± 1°C). Subsequently, experiments were performed to determine the
thermal tolerance, thermal window, thermal safety margin, future
thermal safety margin, and thermal metabolic scope of these species.
The thermal tolerances of both species were relatively similar (M. undosa juveniles: CTmax = 25.3,
21.0, 25.4 and 27.4°C, CTmin = 6.0, 9.2, 16.3 and 17.3°C; M. crenulata juveniles: CTmax =
27.7, 28.1 and 28.8°C, CTmin = 11.2, 12.1 and 14.7°C). Both species had
a small thermal window area (M. undosa:
77.2°C2; M. crenulata:
65.25°C2). The values of the thermal safety margin and the future
thermal safety margin of both species were lower during the summer than
winter. The optimal temperature proxies of M. undosa and M. crenulata juveniles were 16 and
20°C, respectively. This study shows that the two species of marine
gastropods could be moderately affected by ocean warming, being forced
to modify their current distribution patterns. The data on thermal
limits and optimal temperatures can be used to initiate and maximize
the cultivation of both species, which would also help mitigate the
impact of overfishing on natural populations.
Key words: Aquaculture, Climate change,
Megastraea undosa, Megathura crenulata, Ocean warming
Citation: Re-Araujo AD, Díaz F,
Sánchez-Ovando JP, Lafarga-de la Cruz F, Alvarez-Lee L,
Angeles-Gonzalez LE. 2025. Thermal biology and metabolic scope of two
species of juvenile gastropod mollusks inhabiting kelp forests. Zool
Stud 64:06.

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