UV-tolerance and instantaneous physiological stress responses of two Antarctic amphipod species Gondogeneia antarctica and Djerboa furcipes during exposure to UV radiation

We investigated the shielding against solar ultraviolet radiation and inducible damage, as well as the short-term response of whole animal metabolic rate in two Antarctic shallow water amphipod species. Light absorbance by the carapace of Gondogeneia antarctica and Djerboa furcipes was higher in the UVR (UVB + UVA) range (42.1% and 54.5% on average respectively) compared to the PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) range (38.1% and 50.1% respectively) of the solar spectrum. Bands of higher absorbance correlated with maximal absorbance ranges of sunscreening compounds indicating mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) and carotenoids to be innate compounds of the exoskeleton of these species. Though the antioxidant enzyme catalase was photoinhibited, protein damage products did not accumulate under experimental exposure to a daily dose of 6.84 kJ m−2 d−1 UVB, 66.24 kJ m−2 d−1 UVA and 103.14 kJ m−2 d−1 PAR. Animal oxygen consumption during UV-exposure was measured as an indicator of immediate behavioural and physiological stress response. UVB as well as UVA induced a response with altered and highly variable respiratory intensity. Our findings indicate that sub-lethal UVR exposure causes increased oxygen consumption in polar amphipods due to radiation avoidance, shelter seeking behaviour, and presumably also from cellular repair processes.