CR prepress abstract  -  doi: 10.3354/cr00764

ABSTRACT: In light of the current global climate change's rising mean temperatures and fluctuations in temperature extremes, a cause-and-effect understanding of the temperature-dependent impacts of additional environmental stressors on marine life is crucial for the elaboration how marine ecosystems will shape in the future. The thermal environment plays a direct role in the distribution and survival of marine ectotherms through the temperature-dependent effects on their physiology as well as indirectly by affecting the organism’s susceptibility to other biotic and abiotic stressors. This paper compiles studies that have investigated the effects of temperature and anthropogenic pollution by trace metals with a focus on metabolic regulation as a major mechanism that underlies the interactive effects of temperature and metals on the physiology and survival of ectotherms. Available literature suggests that impairment of energy metabolism plays a key role in the synergistic effects of these stressors, and the paper elaborates a mechanistic framework for understanding these interactions. Furthermore, the paper seeks to provide an impetus for future investigations in order to define more precisely the physiological mechanisms and functional properties of temperature-pollution interactions.