Température et métabolisme respiratoire d’espèces sympatriques de gammares du Groupe Pulex [Crustacés, Amphipodes]

Abstract

G. pulex and G. fossarum are specifically distinct from a physiological point of view. Animals gathered in the same locality and placed in strictly identical experimental conditions nevertheless show distinct metabolism-temperature curves. G. pulex seems to be " adapted" to intermediate temperatures (15-20° C) with a " possibility of adjustment " to extreme temperatures (5 et 25° C). G. fossarum seems adapted to lower temperatures (5-10° C) with a limited possibility of adjustment from 20° C upwards. Those physiological characteristics account for the frequent cohabitation of the two species in intermediate ecological conditions, their present geographie distribution and maybe even the conditions in which they were formed. © Masson, 1967.