Are haloclines distributional barriers in anchialine ecosystems? Physiological response of cave shrimps to salinity.

Abstract

Anchialine systems are coastal groundwater habitats around the world which host a unique community of cave adapted species (stygobionts). Such communities are expected to be separated by haloclines into either fresh or saline groundwater communities, hence climate changes (e.g., eustatic sea level shifts) and anthropic driven changes (e.g., salinization) may have a great impact on these stygobiont communities. Here we used cave-restricted species of Typhlatya from the Yucatan Peninsula as models to identify physiological capacities that enable the different species to thrive in marine groundwater (T. dzilamensis) or fresh groundwater (T. mitchelli and T. pearsei), and test if their distribution is limited by their salinity tolerance capacity. We used behavior, metabolic rates, indicators of the antioxidant system and cellular damage, and lactate content to evaluate the response of individuals to acute changes in salinity, as a recreation of crossing a halocline in the anchialine systems of the Yucatan Peninsula. Our results show that despite being sister species, some are restricted to the freshwater portion of the groundwater, while others appear to be euryhaline.