Ecophysiological limits to aerobic metabolism in hypoxia determine epibenthic distributions and energy sequestration in the northeast Pacific ocean

Expansion of oxygen deficient waters (hypoxia) in the northeast Pacific Ocean (NEP) will have marked impacts on marine life. The response of the resident communities will be a function of their ecophysiological constraints in low oxygen, although this remains untested in the NEP due to a lack of integrative studies. Here, we combine in situ surveys and lab-based respirometry experiments were conducted on three indicator species (spot prawn Pandalus platyceros, slender sole Lyopsetta exilis, squat lobster Munida quadrispina) of seasonally hypoxic systems in the NEP to test if metabolic constraints determine distributions and energy sequestration in a hypoxic setting. These experiments were integrated with a global review of critical oxygen levels ( math formula; lower threshold of aerobic metabolism) for crustaceans to determine if math formula-based hypoxia thresholds are different among ocean basins. Our results show that species-specific differences in math formula and standard meta...