Systemphysiologische Untersuchungen zur Temperaturtoleranz des gemeinen Tintenfischs Sepia officinalis

Mechanisms that affect thermal tolerance of ectothermic organisms have recently received much interest, due to global warming and climate change debates in both the public and in the scientific community. In physiological terms, thermal tolerance of several marine ectothermic taxa can be linked to oxygen availability, with capacity limitations in ventilatory and circulatory systems contributing to oxygen limitation at extreme temperatures. The present thesis set out to investigate the role of the systemic oxygen transfer apparatus in defining thermal tolerance in a cephalopod, the common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. In an attempt to identify unifying principles of thermal tolerance, cephalopods make good comparative model species as, although being invertebrates, they have adopted a vertebrate-like high power lifestyle.