Answer 1:
Well, this unfortunately is not an easy
question to answer. Normally as you increase
the temperature in which a species lives, its
metabolic rate increases, as do various
physiological processes, so in theory, limb
regeneration rates should increase as well. Also,
since the solubility of calcium carbonate, the
mineral that composes the endoskeleton of
starfish, is inversely proportional to
temperature, it should be more energetically
favorable to precipitate calcium carbonate at
increased temperatures, so again, in theory,
limb regeneration rates should increase as well,
as you turn up the heat. But, the story is
not this simple. Echinoderms, in general, due to
their lack of an excretory system, are typically
very sensitive to small changes in environmental
parameters and as a result can become very
stressed and disease prone following only minor
changes in environmental parameters. My guess
would therefore be that you might observe a small
increase in limb regenerative rates if you
increased the temperature a small amount, but
too large of an increase would probably just
kill the poor starfish. This is a relatively
straightforward hypothesis, that, if conducted
experimentally under the appropriate controlled
conditions, could easily be tested. I hope this
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