Hans-Otto Pörtner Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Bremerhaven, D Title Physiological principles of climate-dependent evolution Abstract Through functional analyses, integrative physiology should link molecular biology with ecology and, thereby, contribute to an integrative understanding of evolutionary history. Such an approach gives access to the mechanistic bases of organismic responses to environmental alterations, including climate change. Our physiological studies in various groups of animals, at molecular, cellular and organismic levels currently aim to clarify the mechanistic basis of bio-geographical patterns on large scales, i.e. in a latitudinal cline, as they are determined by various climate regimes and associated abiotic factors like temperature, oxygen or CO2. By identifying the tradeoffs and constraints involved in environmental adaptation the principle reasons should become accessible that limit each species to specific habitats. Current hypotheses investigated in ectotherms address the bio-energetic consequences of thermal adaptation with important implications for growth, reproductive output, capacity for motor performance, lifestyle strategies including aging and possibly, even biodiversity. From a palaeo-physiological point of view these analyses also yield an understanding of evolutionary patterns as visible in the fossil record and of cause and effect in mass extinction events in earth history. CV Professional experience Education: University of Münster and Düsseldorf, PhD in animal physiology, 1983, Habilitation 1990; Research fellowship, German Research Council, Dalhousie and Acadia Universities, Nova Scotia, Canada Heisenberg fellow, German Research Council, Lovelace Medical Foundation, Albuquerque, NM, U.S.A Current Position: Professor and Head, Div. of Marine Animal Physiology, Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research, Bremerhaven, FRG. More than 170 publications in peer reviewed journals, several invited contributions and keynotes Research interests Effects of climate scenarios on the evolution of animal functioning: Physiological and biochemical mechanisms limiting thermal tolerance and temperature dependent biogeography in invertebrates and fish. Cellular and whole animal energy budgets in various thermal regimes. Molecular mechanisms of thermal adaptation and limitation. similar analyses of CO2 and hypoxia effects, tolerance levels and associated mechanisms, interactions of temperature, oxygen and CO2 oscillations Roles of climate oscillations in evolutionary history Selected recent publications Pörtner, H.O., Knust R. (2007) Climate change affects marine fishes through the oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance. Science 315, 95 - 97. Pörtner H.O. (2006) Climate dependent evolution of Antarctic ectotherms: an integrative analysis (EASIZ, SCAR). Deep Sea Res. II 53 1071-1104. Lucassen, M., N. Koschnick, L.G. Eckerle, and H.O. Pörtner (2006) Mitochondrial mechanisms of cold adaptation in cod (Gadus morhua) populations from different climatic zones. J. exp. Biol. 209, 2462-2471. Pörtner, H.O., M. Langenbuch, and B. Michaelidis (2005) Synergistic effects of temperature extremes, hypoxia, and increases in CO2 on marine animals: From Earth history to global change, J. Geophys. Res. 110, C09S10, doi:10.1029/2004JC002561. Pörtner, H.O. (2004) Climate variability and the energetic pathways of evolution: the origin of endothermy in mammals and birds. Physiol. Biochem. Zool. 77, 959-981. Institution address Hans-Otto Pörtner Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven, Germany hpoertner@awi-bremerhaven.de