Reviews and syntheses: On increasing hypoxia in eastern boundary upwelling systems – zooplankton under metabolic stress
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: . Eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) are ecologically and economically important marine regions of the world ocean. In these systems, zooplankton play a pivotal role in transferring primary production up through the food web. Recent studies show that global warming is causing a gradual deoxygenation of the world ocean, while in EBUS a vertical expansion of the subsurface oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) along with increased wind-driven upwelling are taking place, further exacerbating hypoxic conditions for zooplankton inhabiting the upwelling zone. Hypoxia can affect zooplankton by disrupting their respiration, migration, reproduction, and development. These effects however depend on some specific adaptations of organisms that have evolved in habitats, permanently or episodically, subjected to low oxygen waters. Various metabolic, physiological, behavioural, and morphological adaptations have been described in zooplankton interacting with the OMZ. Nevertheless, these adaptive responses of zooplankton to withstand mild or severe hypoxia, and the eventual oxidative stress derived from highly fluctuating oxygen conditions, may develop in association with trade-offs related to other metabolic/energy-demanding processes. New demands imply a reduction in energy otherwise available for growth, feeding and reproduction with further ecological consequences for the populations. This paper reviews and explores the existence or lack of such adaptive responses and their role for zooplankton dynamics in EBUS with major consequences for the pelagic food web and biological productivity.
Source: Biogeosciences
Institution: University of Concepción
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,628
Awards: G1165106994, G121557673, G1382628385, INSTITUTO MILENIO DE OCEANOGRAFIA, G169071579, G2302295913, HIDE SEEK AND DISCRIMINATE UNDERWATER HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING CHARACTERIZATION OF CHILEAN PELAGIC FISH SPECIES, G3430284759, G4750862472, G5095729761, METABOLIC AND MOLECULAR RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT MULTIPLE STRESSORS IN THE OXYGEN MINIMUM ZONE (OMZ) HYPOXIA AND ELEVATED CARBON DIOXIDE.
OpenAlex ID: W4409466661