Meeting Abstract

P3-85    Plasticity during environmental stress in the intertidal acorn barnacle, Balanus glandula Dotterweich, MM*; Anderson, KN; Staab, LE; Levora, AA; Hardy, KM; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo mdotterw@calpoly.edu

Alternating periods of emersion and submersion in the rocky intertidal zone cause frequent, wide fluctuations in metabolically influential factors (e.g., temperature, oxygen, food availability). The common acorn barnacle (Balanus glandula) has a wide vertical distribution in the intertidal, which creates large differences in microhabitat between the highest and lowest individuals in the population. Previous research in our lab has looked at whether there are intertidal position-dependent differences in metabolic phenotype in this barnacle species. Concordantly, we observed that low intertidal B. glandula have higher lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity – and hence, increased anaerobic capacity - than conspecifics in higher intertidal positions. To explore the potential causes of this metabolic plasticity, we looked at the effects of acute (48h) hypoxia, predator exposure (Acanthinucella spirata), temperature (18, 23, and 28?C), and air emersion on LDH activity in B. glandula collected from the rocky intertidal zone in Avila Beach, California. We found no significant differences in LDH activity between barnacles exposed to any of these stressors and the control organisms over the acute time scales of these experiments. It is possible that 48h is not enough time for this species to trigger mechanisms that would increase LDH activity under these conditions. Future work will explore longer exposure times, as well as test the effects of other environmental stressors (e.g., desiccation stress) on LDH activity. These data are part of a larger picture aiming to understand how intertidal organisms cope with climate change-associated stress and explore the notion that species resilience might be highly variable across small spatial scales.