Effects of climate change on growth of 0-group sole and plaice

Abstract

The effect of rising seawater temperature on growth of 0-group sole Solea solea and plaice Pleuronectes platessa in the southeastern North Sea was investigated for the period 1970 to 2004 using annual autumn pre-recruit survey data and frequent surveys on a nursery ground. Autumn length showed an increasing trend in sole but not in plaice. Increasing winter temperatures significantly increased the growing period of sole, a warm-water species that spawns in spring, but not of plaice, a temperate species that spawns in winter. Growth rate increased with higher summer temperatures in sole and to a lesser degree in plaice. Compared to experimental growth rates at ambient temperatures and unlimited food, observed growth rates were close to experimental values until mid-June but were much lower in July to September, suggesting food limitation in summer. The higher temperatures observed since 1989 positively affected the quality of the shallow coastal waters as a nursery area for sole but not for plaice. A further increase may negatively affect the nursery quality if the production rate of benthic food cannot meet the increase in energy requirements of 0-group flatfish.KEY WORDS: Climate change · Temperature · Growth · Food limitation · Juvenile · Sole · Solea solea · Plaice · Pleuronectes platessa · Spawning time · North Sea 358: 219-230, 2008 production coincided with an increased input of nitrates and phosphates in the 1960s and 1970s (Beukema & Cadée 1988, Colijn et al. 2002. It is expected that productivity in this area has decreased since the mid-1980s in response to the reduction in nutrient input (Boddeke & Hagel 1995, Lenhart 2001, but this is still under debate (Cadée & Hegeman 2002, Philippart et al. 2007). Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog SerThe coastal waters of the southeastern North Sea are important nursery grounds for juvenile flatfish like sole Solea solea and plaice Pleuronectes platessa (Zijlstra 1972, van Beek et al. 1989. Detailed studies suggest that growth of 0-group flatfish is determined by ambient temperature conditions and not by food conditions (van der Veer & Witte 1993), as has been reported for sole (Pihl 1989, Rogers 1994, van der Veer et al. 2001, Amara 2003, plaice (Zijlstra et al. 1982, van der Veer & Witte 1993, Amara 2003 and flounder (Pihl 1989, van der Veer et al. 1991. Only a few studies provided evidence for reduced growth in plaice (Nash et al. 1994), either through intra-specific competition (Rijnsdorp & van Leeuwen 1992, Modin & Pihl 1994 or through changes in the abundance or quality of food (Berghahn et al. 1995). On a large spatial scale, however, indirect support for the role of food quality and/or quantity is provided by the observed increase in growth of juvenile plaice and sole in the 1960s and 1970s (Rijnsdorp & van Leeuwen 1992, Millner & Whiting 1996, which could be related to the eutrophication of the coastal waters and the observed increase in benthic biomass (Reise 1982, Beukema & Cadée 198...

Shifts in nursery habitat utilization by 0-group plaice in the western Dutch Wadden Sea

“…Furthermore, there is no strong support for size-selective predation by fishes and birds on 0-group plaice in summer (van der Veer et al, 1997). The results of this study are also in line with previous observations for the Balgzand intertidal (Teal et al, 2008;van der Veer et al, 2010), as well as for a number of European nurseries (Ciotti et al, 2010;Freitas et al, 2012;Ciotti et al, 2013a,b). This again suggests that variations in food conditions and hence growth potential cannot explain the shifts in habitat use between 1986 and 2009.…”

Environmental Impacts—Marine Ecosystems

“…The growth rates of co-occurring juveniles of two flatfish species, common sole Solea solea (a warm-temperate species) and plaice Pleuronectes platessa (a cool-temperate species) responded differently to the effect of rising temperature in the southeast North Sea between 1970 and 2004 (Teal et al 2008). Warmer winter temperatures significantly lengthened the growing period of juvenile sole but not of plaice and warmer summer temperatures increased the growth rate of sole and, to a lesser extent, plaice.…”

“…Using dynamic energy budgets, Teal et al (2012) showed that the most likely explanation for the recent loss of the nursery function, especially for plaice, is that increased temperatures make coastal areas unsuitable for growth. Growth rate data for 0-year old plaice showed that recent higher summer temperatures result in metabolic activity raised to levels at which food becomes limiting (Teal et al 2008).…”

Impacts of Europe's changing climate – 2008 indicator based assessment

“…This change is a change in their distribution, as sole and other warm-water species have become relatively more abundant in northerly areas, while plaice and other cold-water species have become rare in southerly areas (Brander et al, 2003). Recently it has been shown that a further temperature increase may lead sole to spawn earlier in the season and thus increase the duration of their growing season whereas plaice does not seem to be affected (Teal et al, 2008). Climate is only one of many factors which affect distribution and abundance, but the consistency of the response of this particular index to temperature, both within particular areas (i.e.…”