Candido Santos L&S Biological Sciences
Thermal Tolerance and Post-Heat Stress Recovery in Porcelain Crabs
Rocky intertidal environments are among the most thermally variable habitats on Earth, where organisms experience rapid temperature changes caused by tidal cycles, solar radiation, and seasonal variation. Many species living in these habitats already exist close to their physiological limits, making them especially vulnerable to rising temperatures and increasingly frequent marine heatwaves driven by climate change. Porcelain crabs are useful models for studying thermal adaptation because closely related species occupy different shoreline habitats and experience different patterns of heat stress. My research compares Petrolisthes cinctipes, a more eurythermal thermal generalist with greater heat tolerance, and Petrolisthes manimaculis, a more heat-sensitive thermal specialist with narrower thermal limits. While previous research has established differences in upper thermal tolerance between these species, less is known about how they recover after sublethal heat stress. By measuring heart rate responses and post-heat recovery following acute thermal exposure, I hope to better understand how recovery capacity, not just heat tolerance, shapes survival in changing marine environments.
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