Interactions Between Temperature Variability and Reproductive Physiology Across Traits in an Intertidal Crab.

Thermal extremes alter population processes, which can result in part from temperature-induced movement at different spatial and temporal scales. Thermal thresholds for animal movement likely change based on underlying thermal physiology and life-history stage, a topic that requires greater study. The intertidal porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes currently experiences temperatures that can reach near-lethal levels in the high-intertidal zone at low tide. However, the thermal thresholds that trigger migration to cooler microhabitats, and the extent to which crabs move in response to temperature, remain unknown. Moreover, the influence of reproductive status on these thresholds is rarely investigated. We integrated demographic, molecular, behavioral, and physiological measurements to determine if behavioral thermal limits varied due to reproductive state. Demographic data showed a trend for gravid, egg bearing, crabs to appear more often under rocks in the cooler intertidal zone where crab density is highest. In situ expression of 31 genes related to stress, metabolism, and growth in the field differed significantly based on intertidal elevation, with mid-intertidal crabs expressing the gene for the reproductive yolk protein vitellogenin (vg) earlier in the season. Furthermore, VG protein levels were shown to increase with density for female hemolymph. Testing for temperatures that elicit movement revealed that gravid females engage in heat avoidance behavior at lower temperatures (i.e., have a lower voluntary thermal maximum, VTmax) than non-gravid females. VTmax was positively correlated with the temperature of peak firing rate for distal afferent nerve fibers in the walking leg, a physiological relationship that could correspond to the mechanistic underpinning for temperature dependent movement. The vulnerability of marine organisms to global change is predicated by their ability to utilize and integrate physiological and behavioral strategies in response to temperature to maximize survival and reproduction. Interactions between fine-scale temperature variation and reproductive biology can have important consequences for the ecology of species, and is likely to influence how populations respond to ongoing climate change.

Broadening Participation in the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

SYNOPSIS: The goal of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology's Broadening Participation Committee (SICB BPC) is to increase the number of underrepresented group (URG) members within the society and to expand their capabilities as future researchers and leaders within SICB. Our short-term 10-year goal was to increase the recruitment and retention of URG members in the society by 10%. Our long-term 25-year goal is to increase the membership of URG in the society through recruitment and retention until the membership demographic mirrors that of the US Census. Our plans to accomplish this included establishment of a formal standing committee, establishment of a moderate budget to support BPC activities, hosting professional development workshops, hosting diversity and mentor socials, and obtaining grant funds to supplement our budget. This paper documents broadening participation activities in the society, discusses the effectiveness of these activities, and evaluates BPC goals after 5 years of targeted funded activities. Over the past 5 years, the number of URG members rose by 5.2% to a total of 16.2%, members who report ethnicity and gender increased by 25.2% and 18%, respectively, and the number of members attending BPC activities has increased to 33% by 2016. SICB has made significant advances in broadening participation, not only through increased expenditures, but also with a commitment by its members and leadership to increase diversity. Most members realize that increasing diversity will both improve the Society's ability to develop different approaches to tackling problems within integrative biology, and help solve larger global issues that are evident throughout science and technology fields. In addition, having URG members as part of the executive committee would provide other URG members role models within the society, as well as have a voice in the leadership that represents diversity and inclusion for all scientists.

Species as Stressors: Heterospecific Interactions and the Cellular Stress Response under Global Change.

SYNOPSIS: Anthropogenic global change is predicted to increase the physiological stress of organisms through changes in abiotic conditions such as temperature, pH, and pollution. However, organisms can also experience physiological stress through interactions with other species, especially parasites, predators, and competitors. The stress of species interactions could be an important driver of species' responses to global change as the composition of biological communities change through factors such as distributional and phenological shifts. Interactions between biotic and abiotic stressors could also induce non-linear physiological stress responses under global change. One of the primary means by which organisms deal with physiological stress is through the cellular stress response (CSR), which is broadly the upregulation of a conserved set of genes that facilitate the removal and repair of damaged macromolecules. Here, we present data on behavioral interactions and CSR gene expression for two competing species of intertidal zone porcelain crab (Petrolisthes cinctipes and Petrolisthes manimaculis). We found that P. cinctipes and P. manimaculis engage in more agonistic behaviors when interacting with heterospecifics than conspecifics; however, we found no evidence that heterospecific interactions induced a CSR in these species. In addition to our new data, we review the literature with respect to CSR induction via species interactions, focusing on predator-prey systems and heterospecific competition. We find extensive evidence for predators to induce cellular stress and aspects of the CSR in prey, even in the absence of direct physical contact between species. Effects of heterospecific competition on the CSR have been studied far less, but we do find evidence that agonistic interactions with heterospecifics can induce components of the CSR. Across all published studies, there is clear evidence that species interactions can lead to cellular stress and induction of the CSR. Nonetheless, our understanding of species-induced cellular stress lags far behind our understanding of abiotic cellular stress.

Indirect Effects of Global Change: From Physiological and Behavioral Mechanisms to Ecological Consequences.

SYNOPSIS: A major focus of current ecological research is to understand how global change makes species vulnerable to extirpation. To date, mechanistic ecophysiological analyses of global change vulnerability have focused primarily on the direct effects of changing abiotic conditions on whole-organism physiological traits, such as metabolic rate, locomotor performance, cardiac function, and critical thermal limits. However, species do not live in isolation within their physical environments, and direct effects of climate change are likely to be compounded by indirect effects that result from altered interactions with other species, such as competitors and predators. The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2017 Symposium "Indirect Effects of Global Change: From Physiological and Behavioral Mechanisms to Ecological Consequences" was designed to synthesize multiple approaches to investigating the indirect effects of global change by bringing together researchers that study the indirect effects of global change from multiple perspectives across habitat, type of anthropogenic change, and level of biological organization. Our goal in bringing together researchers from different backgrounds was to foster cross-disciplinary insights into the mechanistic bases and higher-order ecological consequences of indirect effects of global change, and to promote collaboration among fields.

A new organismal systems biology: how animals walk the tight rope between stability and change.

The amount of knowledge in the biological sciences is growing at an exponential rate. Simultaneously, the incorporation of new technologies in gathering scientific information has greatly accelerated our capacity to ask, and answer, new questions. How do we, as organismal biologists, meet these challenges, and develop research strategies that will allow us to address the grand challenge question: how do organisms walk the tightrope between stability and change? Organisms and organismal systems are complex, and multi-scale in both space and time. It is clear that addressing major questions about organismal biology will not come from "business as usual" approaches. Rather, we require the collaboration of a wide range of experts and integration of biological information with more quantitative approaches traditionally found in engineering and applied mathematics. Research programs designed to address grand challenge questions will require deep knowledge and expertise within subfields of organismal biology, collaboration and integration among otherwise disparate areas of research, and consideration of organisms as integrated systems. Our ability to predict which features of complex integrated systems provide the capacity to be robust in changing environments is poorly developed. A predictive organismal biology is needed, but will require more quantitative approaches than are typical in biology, including complex systems-modeling approaches common to engineering. This new organismal systems biology will have reciprocal benefits for biologists, engineers, and mathematicians who address similar questions, including those working on control theory and dynamical systems biology, and will develop the tools we need to address the grand challenge questions of the 21st century.

Cloning and expression study of the lobster (Homarus americanus) vitellogenin: Conservation in gene structure among decapods.

This study reports the molecular characterization of the vitellogenin (Vg) of the lobster, Homarus americanus. Based on the annual collection of female lobsters, vitellogenesis commences in early March and continues through to September of each year. Using an antibody to vitellin of the lobster, H. americanus, several immunoreactive ovarian proteins were initially identified by Western blot analysis. The 80kDa protein contained the amino acid sequence APWGGNTPRC, identified subsequently by cDNA cloning to be identical to the lobster Vg. In common with the shrimp Metapenaeus ensis and crab Charybdis feriatus, the lobster HaVg1 gene comprises 14 introns and 15 exons. The deduced HaVg1 precursor is most similar to the Vg of the crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (57%), followed by M. ensis (40-43% identity) and C. feriatus (38%). The results from genomic and RT-PCR cloning also confirmed the presence of multiple Vg genes in lobster. At early reproductive stages, the hepatopancreas HaVg1 transcript levels are low but increased to a maximum in animals with mature oocytes. The ovary, however, also expressed low levels of HaVg1. Using in vitro explant culture, treatment of hepatopancreas fragments with farnesoic acid or 20-hydroxyecdysone resulted in a significant stimulation in HaVg1 expression. From this study, it appears that Vg gene organization and expression pattern in decapods is highly conserved. Similar endocrine mechanisms may govern the process of vitellogenesis across the decapods.

Characterization and quantification of yolk proteins in the lobster, Homarus americanus.

Yolk protein (vitellin, Vn) and its precursor (vitellogenin, Vg) were isolated and characterized in the ovary and hemolymph, respectively, of the adult female lobster, Homarus americanus. Vn had a molecular mass of 360 kDa when analyzed by gel filtration. When analyzed by SDS-PAGE, Vn had six bands (110, 105, 94, 90, 81, and 78 kDa). An anti-Vn antiserum was developed using purified Vn, and the antiserum was used to detect Vn and Vg by ELISA and western blot techniques. ELISA analysis of hemolymph proteins separated by gel filtration indicated that Vg was similar in mass to Vn (360 kDa). However, western blots of hemolymph proteins separated by SDS-PAGE indicated that Vg contained a pair of protein subunits, 194 kDa and 179 kDa. Furthermore, the elution profiles of Vn and Vg from anion exchange chromatography indicated that Vg had a more negative charge. Thus, Vg appears to be processed after its uptake by the ovary to form Vn. Vg was undetectable in hemolymph from adult males by either ELISA or by western blot analysis. However, hemolymph levels of Vg in adult females increased 40-fold during the reproductive cycle, rising from 18 microg/mL in ovarian stage II to 789 microg/mL at stage V. This increase correlates well with oocyte growth during the cycle. Hence, this method may be useful for studying the regulation of lobster vitellogenesis.