By Janet Raloff
Many aquatic species become stressed when water temperature rises. Such species are even more vulnerable to thermal stress when their environment is polluted, a pair of ecotoxicologists finds.
Gisela Lannig and Inna Sokolova of the University of North Carolina in Charlotte incubated coastal oysters for 40 days at one of three temperatures: 20°C (68°F), a warm but tolerable temperature for the creatures, at 24°C, or at 28°C. The rate of oxygen use, which can be an indicator of physical stress, was three times as high in oysters kept at the warmest temperature as it was in those kept at the coolest.