Understanding the life-stage specific vulnerability of ectotherms to temperature increases is crucial to accurately predicting the consequences of current and future global climate change. Here, we examined ontogeny-specific thermal vulnerability of three intertidal, bimodal (i.e., air and water) breathing crabs from tropical and warm temperate latitudes to address this issue. Spawning females and embryos of intertidal crabs from warm temperate latitudes were more vulnerable to temperature increases than tropical conspecifics, particularly in water. Our findings do not fully support the Climate Variability Hypothesis for setting upper thermal limits, but correspond with the Oxygen- and Capacity-Limited Thermal Tolerance hypothesis, suggesting ontogeny-specific aerobic capacity dictates overall species' thermal sensitivity. Bimodal breathing efficiency as an evolutionary adaptation, ontogenetic stage and local climate adaptation are therefore significant factors to consider when evaluating the vulnerability of intertidal ectotherms to temperature increases and the consequences of climate changes for intertidal organisms, populations and communities.

中文翻译：

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双呼吸等温动物的热敏感性：胚胎和母亲决定物种对气候变化的脆弱性

了解变温动物在生命阶段对温度升高的特定脆弱性对于准确预测当前和未来全球气候变化的后果至关重要。在这里，我们研究了来自热带和暖温带纬度的三种潮间带、双峰（即空气和水）呼吸蟹的个体发育特异性热脆弱性，以解决这个问题。来自暖温带的潮间带蟹的产卵雌性和胚胎比热带同种蟹更容易受到温度升高的影响，尤其是在水中。我们的研究结果并不完全支持设定热上限的气候变化假设，但与氧气和容量限制的热耐受性假设相对应，表明个体发育特定的有氧能力决定了整个物种的热敏感性。