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Solar radiation stress in climbing snails: behavioural and intrinsic features define the Hsp70 level in natural populations of Xeropicta derbentina (Pulmonata)

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Cell Stress and Chaperones Aims and scope

Abstract

Ectotherms from sunny and hot environments need to cope with solar radiation. Mediterranean land snails of the superfamily Helicoidea feature a behavioural strategy to escape from solar radiation-induced excessive soil heating by climbing up vertical objects. The height of climbing, and also other parameters like shell colouration pattern, shell orientation, shell size, body mass, actual internal and shell surface temperature, and the interactions between those factors may be expected to modulate proteotoxic effects in snails exposed to solar radiation and, thus, their stress response. Focussing on natural populations of Xeropicta derbentina, we conducted a ‘snapshot’ field study using the individual Hsp70 level as a proxy for proteotoxic stress. In addition to correlation analyses, an IT-model selection approach based on Akaike’s Information Criterion was applied to evaluate a set of models with respect to their explanatory power and to assess the relevance of each of the above-mentioned parameters for individual stress, by model averaging and parameter estimation. The analysis revealed particular importance of the individuals’ shell size, height above ground, the shell colouration pattern and the interaction height × orientation. Our study showed that a distinct set of behavioural traits and intrinsic characters define the Hsp70 level and that environmental factors and individual features strongly interact.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Tal Seifan for his help with the statistical analysis. Nik Triebskorn and Tim Triebskorn assisted during sampling in the field. Thanks go also to Lucile Delay for providing access to one of the sampling areas and to Thomas Wilke and Sergej Sereda (Giessen University) for molecular species determination. The study was financed by the German Research Council (DFG) under KO 1978/5-3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Physiological Ecology, Institute of Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 20, 72072, Tübingen, Germany

    Maddalena A. Di Lellis, Sandra Troschinski, Rita Triebskorn & Heinz-R. Köhler

  2. Plant Ecology, Institute of Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 3, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Merav Seifan

  3. IMBE UMR 7263, Institut Mediterranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie Marine et Continentale, Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, Pole Agrosciences, 301 rue Baruch de Spinoza, BP 21239, 84916, Avignon cedex 9, France

    Christophe Mazzia

  4. INRA - UR 1115 - Plantes et Systemes Horticoles, Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, Domaine St Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914, Avignon cedex 9, France

    Yvan Capowiez

Authors
  1. Maddalena A. Di Lellis
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  2. Merav Seifan
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  3. Sandra Troschinski
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  4. Christophe Mazzia
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  7. Heinz-R. Köhler
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Correspondence to Maddalena A. Di Lellis.

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Di Lellis, M.A., Seifan, M., Troschinski, S. et al. Solar radiation stress in climbing snails: behavioural and intrinsic features define the Hsp70 level in natural populations of Xeropicta derbentina (Pulmonata). Cell Stress and Chaperones 17, 717–727 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-012-0344-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-012-0344-4

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