Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Reduced oxygen at high altitude limits maximum size.

L S Peck1, G Chapelle

  • 1British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK. l.peck@bas.ac.uk

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|December 12, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Advances and shortfalls in knowledge of Antarctic terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2025
Same author

Multi-omics for studying and understanding polar life.

Nature communications·2023
Same author

Metabarcoding the Antarctic Peninsula biodiversity using a multi-gene approach.

ISME communications·2023
Same author

Temperatures leading to heat escape responses in Antarctic marine ectotherms match acute thermal limits.

Frontiers in physiology·2023
Same author

Antimicrobial resistance in Antarctica: is it still a pristine environment?

Microbiome·2022
Same author

Sources of elevated heavy metal concentrations in sediments and benthic marine invertebrates of the western Antarctic Peninsula.

The Science of the total environment·2019

Marine animal size increases with latitude due to colder, oxygen-rich waters. However, high-altitude lakes like Titicaca show smaller amphipods, suggesting reduced oxygen pressure limits size.

Area of Science:

  • Marine biology
  • Limnology
  • Physiological ecology

Background:

  • The inverse relationship between water temperature and dissolved oxygen is a known factor influencing marine animal size.
  • Reduced oxygen availability at high altitudes is hypothesized to affect aquatic organism size, but data are scarce.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of high altitude and low oxygen on crustacean size in Lake Titicaca.
  • To compare amphipod maximum lengths in Lake Titicaca with those from other low-salinity lakes.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of an extensive crustacean collection from the 1937 British expedition to Lake Titicaca (3809 m altitude).
  • Comparison of maximum amphipod lengths from Lake Titicaca with data from the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Amphipods in Lake Titicaca were found to be 2-4 times smaller than those in other low-salinity lakes.
  • This size reduction is consistent with the hypothesis that low oxygen availability at high altitudes limits organism size.

Conclusions:

  • High altitude, leading to reduced oxygen pressure, significantly restricts the maximum size of amphipods in Lake Titicaca.
  • The findings support the broader principle that oxygen availability is a critical factor in determining the size of aquatic ectotherms across different environments.