Ecological Physiology

Ecological physiology explores how organisms’ functional traits enable survival, growth and reproduction in their natural environments. It bridges molecular, cellular and whole‐organism processes with ecological patterns by examining energy and material budgets, water and solute transport, thermal regulation, nutrient acquisition and stress responses. Key themes include trade‐offs between resource capture and conservation, the scaling of individual metabolism to community and ecosystem fluxes, and the role of phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary adaptation in coping with environmental variability. By integrating physiological measurements with ecological modelling and evolutionary analysis, ecological physiology explains species distributions, community assembly and ecosystem services under changing climatic and anthropogenic pressures.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Experiments with common reef‐building corals reveal how water flow shapes microenvironmental pH and oxygen gradients under ocean acidification. In unidirectional‐flow chambers, low current speeds thicken the H⁺ concentration boundary layer and buffer surface pH, whereas moderate flow maintains stable boundary‐layer traits across species, highlighting flow‐mediated resilience to acidified conditions. Complementary light‐sheet microscopy and microparticle velocimetry demonstrate that ciliary beating on coral tissue generates vortices in the diffusive boundary layer, smoothing extreme oxygen elevations or deficits without altering net photosynthetic rates, and suggesting an active homeostatic mechanism for stress tolerance.

In terrestrial ectotherms, comparative analyses link reproductive mode with macroevolutionary patterns of body size. Among Liolaemus lizards, independent origins of viviparity indirectly promote colonisation of colder habitats, where live‐bearing females evolve larger optimal body sizes but do not accelerate rates of size change. This life‐history shift unlocks new ecological opportunities without altering intrinsic size‐evolution dynamics.

Field and laboratory studies of a temperate grassland lizard demonstrate that acute summer warming forces individuals to operate near their upper thermal limits even within shaded refuges. As ambient temperatures exceed 32 °C, activity periods collapse and metabolic costs surge, requiring up to 40% more energy intake to offset temperature‐driven losses. These findings underscore the narrow thermal safety margins of temperate ectotherms and their vulnerability to ongoing climate warming.

Research from all publishers

Biochemical and cellular strategies for pH stress mitigation have been characterised in marine invertebrates. In the spotted babylon snail, acute exposure to combined pH and nitrite challenges elicits time‐dependent induction and collapse of immunoenzymes—such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and acid phosphatase—defining the tolerance window for aquaculture applications. Chronic pH stress in Pacific white shrimp disrupts gill Na⁺/K⁺‐ATPase and H⁺‐ATPase activities and depresses antioxidant defences, leading to lamellar fusion, epithelial necrosis and impaired osmoregulation. Single‐cell RNA‐seq of shrimp gills exposed to high pH identifies pillar cells as the primary acid–base regulators; they downregulate ammonia‐excreting and proton‐pump genes, upregulate immune effectors and give rise to novel immune‐like subclusters, revealing a cellular trade‐off between acid–base homeostasis and innate defence.

Ecological Physiology publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in ecological physiology across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Concentration boundary layer (CBL): The thin microenvironment adjacent to an organism’s surface where transport of solutes such as H⁺ and O₂ is controlled by the balance of diffusion and fluid flow.

Aerobic scope: The difference between an organism’s maximal sustainable metabolic rate and its resting metabolic rate, indicating energy available for growth, locomotion and reproduction beyond maintenance needs.

Thermal optimum: The temperature at which a physiological process (e.g., photosynthesis, locomotor performance) reaches its maximum rate.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Highly reactive oxygen‐containing molecules produced under stress that can damage cellular components unless neutralised by antioxidant systems.

Ionocyte: A specialised epithelial cell in aquatic organisms tasked with acid–base and ion regulation via active transporters.

Pre‐oviposition phase: The initial period after sexual maturity during which reproductive tissues mature but before active egg‐laying commences.

References

1. Effects of water flow and ocean acidification on oxygen and pH gradients in coral boundary layer. Scientific Reports (2024).
2. Ciliary vortex flows and oxygen dynamics in the coral boundary layer. Scientific Reports (2020).
3. Viviparity imparts a macroevolutionary signature of ecological opportunity in the body size of female Liolaemus lizards. Nature Communications (2024).
4. Climate warming drives a temperate-zone lizard to its upper thermal limits, restricting activity, and increasing energetic costs. Scientific Reports (2023).
5. Changes in pH and Nitrite Nitrogen Induces an Imbalance in the Oxidative Defenses of the Spotted Babylon (Babylonia areolata). Antioxidants (2023).
6. Growth and health responses to a long-term pH stress in Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Aquaculture Reports (2020).
7. Highly sensitive and specific responses of shrimp gill cells to high pH stress based on single cell RNA-seq analysis. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (2022).
8. Ecophysiology.