Assessing the impacts of deoxygenation on marine species using blood-oxygen binding thresholds as proxies for hypoxia tolerance in the water column

Oxygen and temperature decrease, often rapidly, from shallow to deeper depths, restricting the ability of marine species to use the vertical habitat. One physiological trait that determines the tolerance of organisms to low oxygen is the oxygen affinity of respiratory pigments, hemoglobin and hemocyanin, in the blood. Oxygen affinity is sensitive to temperature because the reversible reaction between oxygen and blood pigments absorbs or releases energy, called the heat of oxygenation. To quantify the range of oxygen affinities for marine species, we surveyed the literature for measurements of oxygen binding to blood at multiple temperatures. Oxygen affinity is mapped within the ocean environment using the depth at which oxygen pressure decreases to the point at which the blood is 50% oxygenated (P₅₀ depth) as organisms move from the surface to depth in the ocean water column. We calculate P₅₀ depths for hydrographic observations and model simulations and find that vertical gradients in both temperature and oxygen impact the vertical position and areal extent of P₅₀ depths. Shifts in P₅₀ due to temperature cause physiological types with the same P₅₀ in the surface ocean to have different P₅₀ depths and physiological types with different P₅₀’s in the surface ocean to have the same P₅₀ depth. The vertical distances between P₅₀ depths are spatially variable, which may determine the frequency of ecological interactions, such as competition and predation. P₅₀ depths provide new insights into the historical and future impacts of changing hypoxic zones on species living in pelagic habitats.