Temperature adaptation in larval development of lithodine crabs from deep-water lineages

Abstract

Adaptations in per-offspring investment and larval development are considered to have been crucial to the global radiation of deep-water lineages of lithodine crabs (Lithodinae). Temperature is proposed to drive latitudinal trends in energy provisioning of eggs in marine invertebrates, mediated by thermally dependent intraspecific plasticity in per-offspring investment. Consequently, a changing climate may be expected to directly affect larval provisioning. We analysed available data to examine any differences in per-offspring investment and larval development among deep-water lineage lithodines. Although data are few, interspecific differences in the thermal scope of deep-water-lineage lithodine larvae appear coupled with differences in biogeography. This coupling suggests environmental temperature influences larval thermal scope. Lithodine phylogeography suggests that larval cold-eurythermy in deep-water-lineage lithodines is a derived trait that has evolved in relatively warm and variable subantarctic shallow water. Therefore, we hypothesise that capacity to adapt to warmer and more variable environmental conditions may afford deep-water-lineage lithodines some resilience to ocean warming, depending on the rates of environmental and adaptive change. Interspecific comparisons also suggest that larval duration and per-offspring investment are positively correlated. Faster development at a given temperature is associated with higher respiration rates and greater energetic reserve utilisation. Therefore, we hypothesise that selection pressure for contrasting metabolic adaptations in different thermal environments contributes to shifts in larval duration and per-offspring investment.

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