[{"key":"dc.contributor.author","value":"Blanchard, Tessa Samantha","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.accessioned","value":"2024-04-08T19:30:21Z","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.available","value":"2024-04-08T19:30:21Z","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.issued","value":"2024","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.identifier.uri","value":"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2429\/87709","language":null},{"key":"dc.description.abstract","value":"Anthropogenic climate change is causing rising average temperatures and increased \r\nthermal variability across aquatic environments. These impacts may be particularly concerning \r\nfor early life-stages of fishes as their thermal windows are thought to be narrower than those of \r\nadults. However, relatively little is known about how these early-life stages will respond to \r\npredicted temperature changes with global warming. Therefore, I investigated the effects of \r\ndifferent temperature regimes on early life-stages and how they respond to these environments \r\nboth acutely and by utilizing developmental plasticity in two subspecies of Fundulus \r\nheteroclitus, a topminnow that inhabits intertidal saltmarshes along the Atlantic coast of North \r\nAmerica. \r\nI generated thermal performance curves (TPC) for development in embryos of two F. \r\nheteroclitus subspecies reared at a series of constant temperatures and found evidence consistent \r\nwith both local adaptation and countergradient variation between the subspecies. I also showed \r\nthat F. heteroclitus reared at different temperatures had altered hypoxia tolerance and hif1\u03b1 \r\nmRNA transcript abundance, but I observed no change in thermal tolerance. This finding \r\ndemonstrates that developmental cross-tolerance can occur in F. heteroclitus. However, these \r\ndifferences did not persist at the age of 1 year, highlighting reversible plasticity. I then examined \r\nhow fluctuating thermal regimes during development affected embryonic and larval phenotypes. \r\nI demonstrated development under fluctuating temperatures can alter performance in ways that \r\ncannot always be predicted based on performance generated at constant temperatures. \r\nFurthermore, I showed the fish reared under fluctuating temperatures had altered growth, thermal \r\ntolerance, and hypoxia tolerance, which were associated with long-lasting transcriptomic effects \r\nthat persisted even in a common environment. However, high thermal variability during \r\ndevelopment had lasting negative consequences on phenotypes as the result of deleterious \r\nplasticity. \r\nTaken together, my research demonstrates that F. heteroclitus utilize developmental \r\nplasticity as a mechanism to cope with changing temperatures during early development. \r\nHowever, there are limitations to this plasticity which are highlighted in the reversible and \r\ndeleterious plasticity I detected.","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.language.iso","value":"eng","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.publisher","value":"University of British Columbia","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.rights","value":"Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International","language":"*"},{"key":"dc.rights.uri","value":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/","language":"*"},{"key":"dc.title","value":"Temperature during early development alters morphological, physiological, and molecular phenotypes across temporal scales in Atlantic killifish","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.type","value":"Text","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.name","value":"Doctor of Philosophy - PhD","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.discipline","value":"Zoology","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.grantor","value":"University of British Columbia","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.contributor.supervisor","value":"Schulte, Patricia M.","language":null},{"key":"dc.date.graduation","value":"2024-05","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.type.text","value":"Thesis\/Dissertation","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.description.affiliation","value":"Science, Faculty of","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.description.affiliation","value":"Zoology, Department of","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.degree.campus","value":"UBCV","language":"en"},{"key":"dc.description.scholarlevel","value":"Graduate","language":"en"}]