Belgium

Ocean warming is a major threat to shallow water marine communities, particularly their invertebrate species, whose biological rates are temperature dependent. Accurately predicting their fate in the face of ongoing warming will require to account for biological variation, particularly between males and females, of which we currently have little understanding. We experimentally evaluated the physiological and metabolomic responses, as well as reproductive output, of the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta exposed to a temperature gradient. Females and males were collected from a coastal lagoon subjected to four acclimation temperatures (16, 21, 26 and 31 ºC) for 21 days. Specimens were individually sampled for metabolomics profiling. Additionally, Critical Thermal Maximum (CTMax), thermal safety margins and acclimation response ratio were assessed in different specimens at day 21. Higher exposure temperatures led to higher CTMax, confirming thatG. locustais capable to adjust its CTMax via physiological plasticity. A positive thermal safety margin was found, and females displayed higher CTMax than males, suggesting that thermal tolerance is sex dependent. Additionally, offsprings number was significantly reduced at higher temperatures, suggesting negative impacts of OW on fecundity. Further metabolomics analysis will be performed to assess test the hypothesis that warming causes females to enhance energy production via TCA cycle and amino acid metabolism more than males to support heat stress and reproductive costs. We conclude that G. locusta is physiologically plastic, females being more plastic than males, but that population viability may still be at risk due to reduced reproductive output under OW.

SEB Conference 2025

The Battle of the Sexes: Male and Female Amphipods Differences in Thermal Tolerance and Metabolomic Profiles in a Warming Ocean

grazers

critical thermal maximum

physiology

temperature

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technical paper

Insect geographical limits are tied to their ability to tolerate thermal extremes. Climate change is increasing both mean global temperatures and extreme weather event occurrences, which has implications for shifting habitats. This is not only making climates unsuitable for native species but also opening habitats for new species to invade. Mountain Pine Beetles (Dendroctonus Ponderosae; MPB) are a species of bark beetle that have expanded past their native range in the westernmost part of north America, severely impacting the forests of British Colombia and Alberta, and continuing to expand eastward. As a freeze-avoidant insect, Pine Beetles have the capacity to lower their internal freezing temperature and survive extreme cold through maintenance of ion balance and cryoprotectant accumulation. Unlike less tolerant species, MPB can avoid a catastrophic loss of ion balance that drives tissue damage in the cold, possibly through changes to renal function in response to chilling. To broadly investigate how one component of the renal system responds to cold stress, we conducted tissue-specific mRNA sequencing of MPB Malpighian tubules before, during, and after a simulated cold snap in winter, the results of which suggest that this species may shut down renal ion transport and thereby maintain homeostasis during cold stress.

Life signs below zero: Overwintering Transcriptomic Responses of the Mountain Pine Beetle Renal System

The concept of the "island syndrome" phenomenon has been recognised since the era of Darwin, and it is characterised by the presence of distinct behavioural and morphological traits within island populations that differ from those of the mainland. While most studies have investigated changes that have already occurred, questions regarding the mechanisms and causes of these changes remain unanswered. In this study, we have focused on the founding generation of wild house mice relocated to "islands," a situation analogous to being introduced to novel environments by human transportation. The "islands" utilised in this study are seminatural and comprise distinct dietary regimens. These diets differed in consistency but were comparable in caloric content and mimicked the natural diet of the mice. We then compared mice's behaviour and morphological traits from these "islands" with those of a control population maintained on an artificial pellet diet after seven months. The behavioural stress-coping strategies and foraging behaviours of the subjects were examined, as these are critical for survival during and after environmental change. The analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in stress-coping, however, there were some differences in foraging behaviour. The examination of morphological traits, including body length, tail length, and masticatory muscle strength, revealed a trend suggesting that these traits were beginning to diverge from those of the control population. This outcome is particularly noteworthy given that these were the founder generations that underwent relocations during their early life stages.

The effect of relocation and dietary change on the founder generation of wild house mice

The harvest of animals from the wild can be intensive and selective on traits related to size, age at maturation, behaviour, and physiology. While the impacts of selectively removing animals are beginning to be understood for terrestrial animals and commercial food fisheries, removal has been overlooked in smaller-scale artisanal fisheries. This is surprising given that harvesting for ornamental fisheries is selective for traits such as size and colouration, and the methods used to capture individuals may work in a manner analogous to commercial food fisheries. Here, we use combinations of lab and field experiments to understand what traits influence vulnerability to capture, what traits may be targeted by different gears, and finally what are the behavioural decisions involved when encountering gears in the wild. In the lab, we found that individuals with a higher vulnerability to capture were smaller, fatigued faster, and had lower metabolic rates. In the wild, we found that gear type influenced behavioural traits such as boldness and sociability. The findings from this research offer a rare look at selective pressures in the ornamental fishing industry and contribute to our broader understanding of how we can use lab and field work to understand how selective harvesting may drive evolutionary changes in wild fish populations.

Fishing for answers: using lab and field studies to understand the impacts of selectively harvesting ornamental fish

Most non-human primates commonly exhibit exceptional jumping performance, particularly optimized for arboreal leaping. In contrast, humans appear more grounded, and arboreal leaping would represent an extremely risky behavior for them. This contrast raises two key questions: why do non-human primates possess such remarkable jumping abilities, and why did human primates lose this adaptation? In this presentation, we will review the leaping capabilities of primates, including their vertical jumping performance, drawing on various studies, notably those conducted by Prof. Peter Aerts. Using insights from functional morphology, we will explore the anatomical and biomechanical factors underlying the exceptional jumping performance of non-human primates, such as morphotype, lever arms, muscle properties, and muscle power. Finally, we will discuss when and why these capacities may have been reduced or lost in the human lineage, that is, how natural selection ceased to maintain this trait.

Vertical jumping performance in human and non-human primates: an example of relaxed selection?

Ross seals (Ommatophoca rossii) spend most of their year foraging pelagically and only haul out in dense consolidated sea ice for a brief period. The Ross seal is one of the least studied of the Antarctic ice-dependent pinnipeds. Here, we aimed to find out what information we can get from steroid hormones (progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol) measured in hair (males=7, females=14) and serum (males=7, females=13) samples intermittently collected from Ross seals in die Lazarev Sea, Antarctica, between 2016 and 2023. Sex of the animal can be correlated with 85% accuracy using progesterone to testosterone hormone concentrations ratios measured in serum. Sex correlation accuracy in hair samples was lower at 70% using the same progesterone to testosterone hormone concentrations ratios. Thereafter, Ross seal sex could be predicted from samples for two unknown individuals, which turned out to be males. The testosterone and progesterone concentrations in serum and hair were not significantly linked to body length in males and females respectively. Thus, the hormones cannot be used to estimate age of assumed mature Ross seals. Finally, the results suggest that hair likely cannot be used as a historical marker of stress, and reproduction as there was no significant difference in hair glucocorticoid, progesterone, and testosterone hormone concentrations between new and old hair sampled during moult. These are the first ever measurements of steroid hormone, testosterone and progesterone concentrations for one of the rarest Antarctic seal species and aim to serve as a baseline for future research to build on.

What steroid hormones can tell us about Ross seals (Ommatophoca rossii)

Carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is fundamental to biological processes throughout the biosphere. While much is known about the impact of CO2  on the overall physiology of an organism, much less is known about how its interaction with specific biomolecules may affect their function. Identifying proteins that bind CO2  is imperative to understanding these broader CO2 -regulated molecular processes. Carbamylation is a non-enzymatic reversible post-translational modification where CO2  binds to a lysine ε-amino group. A chemical proteomics tool using a triethyloxonium (TEO) ion to trap carbamates allows identification through mass spectrometry. Using this method and 13 C-NMR, ubiquitin has been shown to bind CO2  through the N-terminus and the ε-amino group on lysines 6, 33, 48 and 63. CO2  binding to lysine 48 was demonstrated to reduce ubiquitin conjugation and subsequent activation of the NF-κB pathway. This mechanism is proposed as one method by which elevated CO2  reduces inflammation. Three lysines (11, 27, 29) within ubiquitin do not form observable carbamates. Through computational molecular dynamics simulations, we aim to understand why lysines have different prevalences for carbamate formation and investigate the change in properties and structural impacts of this modification. Understanding how select lysines in ubiquitin do or do not interact with CO2  can influence our broader understanding of protein-CO2  interactions.

Carbamylation impinging on ubiquitination in the NF-κB pathway. 

As immersive technologies become more accessible in education, traditional lesson planning strategies require thoughtful adaptation. This short presentation explores how standard approaches can be reimagined to support immersive learning, with a focus on reducing cognitive load for both students and educators. Drawing on early findings and conceptual frameworks from our work at Advanced Research Centre XR facilities, we emphasise the value of co-producing lesson content with learners to ensure relevance, usability, and engagement. While much of the current pedagogical use of XR is centred on medical and biological sciences, we are actively repurposing these frameworks to fit cognitive and psychological science education as well. Our approach places students as collaborators in the design process, ensuring immersive lessons not only align with learning objectives but also support user-centred interaction within XR environments.

Lesson Planning for Immersive Education: Collaboration, Cognitive Load, and Contextual Fit

Evolution adapted photosynthesis to many different environmental conditions, even within plant species. The resulting genetic architecture underlying photosynthesis can 1) point at novel genes as targets for improvements, 2) generate new mechanistic insights and 3) pave the way to novel breeding methods. So far, the impact of variation in chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes are largely ignored due to the difficulty in separating their effect from nuclear-derived variation. Therefore, we developed methods to study how genetic variation for cyto-nuclear interactions responds to dynamic environmental conditions.
Using haploid-inducer lines we developed an efficient method to generate new organelle-nuclear combinations, with the resulting genotypes referred to as cybrids. A large cybrid panel representing species wide organelle variation inArabidopsis thalianareveals variation for a large range of chlorophyll fluorescence-derived photosynthetic traits. We found that genetic variation in theNdhGgene can result in increased photosynthetic performance. Follow up work revealed that NDH mediated cyclic electron flow has a trade-off on photosystem II efficiency, which impacts the biomass significantly. On the nuclear side, a segregating population between two genotypes, revealed a dozen QTLs connected to photosynthetic traits. Interestingly, these were caused by several different processes and heavily dependent on the dynamic light regime.
All together it shows that there is ample room for improvement of photosynthetic traits, not only in the nuclear genome but also hidden in the organellar genomes. These findings are now extended to novel methods on how genetic variation can be used to identify when photosynthesis is limiting yield in crops.

What can we learn from genetic variation for cyto-nuclear interactions?

Stomatal pores on leaves determine water loss of plants and carbon assimilation in photosynthesis. These key physiological processes affect biomass production, stress sensitivity and water use efficiency of plants and are also addressed in breeding. ABA signaling network described for Arabidopsis is conserved in land plants; the module of ABA-activated kinase OST1 leading to anion channel activation and stomatal closure developed during evolution of early land plants. Climate change associated rise in atmospheric vapour pressure deficit (VPD) results in OST1-mediated stomatal closure in Arabidopsis. Here, we measured stomatal VPD- and ABA-sensitivity of barley double mutants defective in two barley genes homologous to Arabidopsis OST1. Double mutants showed higher stomatal conductance and reduced VPD- and ABA-sensitivity compared with wildtype Golden Promise (GP) in gas exchange experiments. Net assimilation rate and stomatal density were only mildly affected in double mutants compared with GP. These results show that as in Arabidopsis, OST1 is involved in determining stomatal openness and sensitivity to ABA and abiotic environmental factors. The effect of alleviating ABA signalling pathaway on stress tolerance and yield is discussed regarding breeding plants for different water availability conditions.

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Life signs below zero: Overwintering Transcriptomic Responses of the Mountain Pine Beetle Renal System

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