Metabolic Biochemistry: Its Role in Thermal Tolerance and in the Capacities of Physiological and Ecological Function

• Published in: Fish Physiology Vol. 22; pp. 79 - 154
• Main Authors: PÖrtner, H.O., Lucassen, M., Storch, D.
• Format: Book Chapter Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Science & Technology 2005
• ISBN: 0123504465; 9780123504463
• ISSN: 1546-5098; 1557-8011
• DOI: 10.1016/S1546-5098(04)22003-9

Marine life in the polar, especially Antarctic, cold is characterized by a low to moderate pace at permanently low temperatures. This chapter discusses the special characteristics of metabolism in the cold by considering their role in tissue and whole‐organism functional adjustments to cold, as well as the environmental forces that cause temperature‐dependent trade‐offs in biochemical and physiological tissue and cellular design. The chapter highlights the knowledge of metabolic biochemistry of polar fishes, including molecular and cellular design and of individual tissue, functioning toward an understanding of the animal, its thermal specialization, and its integration into the ecosystem. The hypothesis of an oxygen‐limited thermal tolerance as a unifying principle in animals is important and is briefly discussed in the chapter.