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Climate Change 2016
October 27-29, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 9(Suppl) J Earth Sci Clim Change
ISSN: 2157-7617 JESCC, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
October 24-26, 2016 Valencia, Spain
World Conference onClimate Change
Effects of acute temperature increase on performance and survival of Caribbean Echinoids
Francesco Rendina1,2 and Rachel Collin 1
1Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
2Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy
An increase of mean sea surface temperatures up to 4.8°C because of climate change is expected by the end of this century.
The actual capabilities of marine invertebrates to adapt to these rapid changes have still to be understood. Adult echinoids
play a crucial role in the tropical ecosystems where they live. Despite their role, few studies about the effect of temperature
increase on their viability have been reported in literature. In this communication, we report a first systematic study on several
Caribbean echinoids of the Bocas Del Toro Archipelago in Panama about their tolerance to temperature rise in the context of
global warming. The research focalized on the 6 sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus, L. williamsi, Echinometra lucunter, E. viridis,
Tripneustes ventricosus and Eucidaris tribuloides, and the 2 sand dollars Clypeaster rosaceus and C. subdepressus. Mortality and
neuromuscular well-being indicators - such as righting response, covering behavior, adhesion to the substrate, spine and tube
feet movements - have been analyzed in the temperature range 28-38°C. The righting time measured in the 6 sea urchin species
demonstrated a clearly dependence on the water temperature. The experiments allowed to determine the “thermal safety
margin” (TSM) of each species. Echinometra lucunter and E. viridis has resulted the most tolerant species to high temperatures
with a TSM of 5.5°C, while T. ventricosus was the most vulnerable with a TSM of only 3°C. The study assessed that all the
species already live at temperatures close to their upper thermal limit.
Biography
Francesco Rendina completed with Honors, his Master’s degree in Marine Biology at the Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna (Italy) in March 2016. In 2015, he won a
fellowship of the same University to prepare his thesis work abroad and spent 6 months (from June to November 2015) at the Research Station of the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Bocas del Toro (Panama) studying the effect of global warming on adult Echinoids. Previously, in July 2013, he had completed
“with Honors” the Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science at the Federico II University of Naples (Italy).
Francesco Rendina et al., J Earth Sci Clim Change 2016, 7:9(Suppl)