Nervous systems must maintain coordinated activity patterns despite perturbations from unstable environmental factors (e.g., temperature, pH, and salinity). Marine organisms experience daily and seasonal changes in temperature, and precipitation and ocean currents alter sea water salinity. We examined how the stomatogastric nervous systems (STNS) from two species of decapod crustaceans (
and
) were affected by altered temperature and salinity. We used the patterned activity of the pyloric rhythm to assay the tolerance of the STNS to these two perturbations, independently and combined. The pyloric rhythm is generated by a well-characterized circuit containing a small number of identified neurons. These species exhibited distinct increases in frequency as temperature was increased with the pyloric rhythm crashing between 25°C and 38°C. When salinity was increased to 1.25x that of the physiological (1x) saline, the pyloric rhythm crash temperature was ~3-5°C lower in both species. While the
pyloric rhythm crash temperature was similar between 1x and 0.75x salinities, in
, it crashed ~3°C higher in 0.75x salinity. Although
and
share a common habitat, they exhibited differences in their responses to these perturbations. Despite each species having a similarly configured pyloric circuit, the order in which neurons crashed were species specific. In summary, the
was unaffected by salinity alone, but increased temperature and the combination of the two perturbations altered the pyloric frequency. In
, the pyloric frequency was affected by both perturbations individually as well as the combination of the two.
- The combined effects of temperature and salinity on the stomatogastric nervous system of two species of decapod crustacea
- Katrina L Carrier - Bowdoin CollegeNaamah Romano - Neuroscience, Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454Lara K Scaria - Brandeis UniversityMaya Palmer - Neuroscience, Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454Ryan M O'Leary - Psychology Department, Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454Eve Marder - Biology Department and Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454Daniel J Powell - Bowdoin College
- Journal of neurophysiology
- R35 NS 097343 / HHS | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) 2P20GM103423 / HHS | NIH | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
- 9924586150801921
- Neuroscience Program; Department of Biology; Benjamin and Mae Volen National Center for Complex Systems
- English
- Journal article