Growth- and size-selective mortality in pelagic ­larvae of a common reef fish

Sponaugle, Su; Boulay, Jennifer N.; Rankin, Tauna L.

doi:10.3354/ab00370

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…However, for larvae outside of eddies, patterns of selective mortality varied over time: In June, there was no significant traitbased loss, whereas in August, slow growers preferentially survived. Selective mortality favoring slow growers has been shown for T. bifasciatum larvae collected in oligotrophic waters in the Straits of Florida (14). Because most of the NE larvae in our study were collected in oligotrophic Florida Current waters, this pattern of preferential survival of slow growers is consistent with previous findings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…If reads differed by >5%, a third read was conducted and compared with the first two reads. If any comparison differed by ≤5%, one read from that comparison was randomly chosen for analysis; otoliths where all reads differed by >5% were removed from any further analyses (14).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased survival of larval and juvenile stages is frequently linked to fast larval growth (8)(9)(10)(11)(12), yet there are notable exceptions to this pattern (13,14) and the strength and direction of selective mortality has been shown to be environmentally mediated and temporally variable (15,16).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Encounter with mesoscale eddies enhances survival to settlement in larval coral reef fishes

Shulzitski

Sponaugle

Hauff

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Oceanographic features, such as eddies and fronts, enhance and concentrate productivity, generating high-quality patches that dispersive marine larvae may encounter in the plankton. Although broad-scale movement of larvae associated with these features can be captured in biophysical models, direct evidence of processes influencing survival within them, and subsequent effects on population replenishment, are unknown. We sequentially sampled cohorts of coral reef fishes in the plankton and nearshore juvenile habitats in the Straits of Florida and used otolith microstructure analysis to compare growth and size-at-age of larvae collected inside and outside of mesoscale eddies to those that survived to settlement. Larval habitat altered patterns of growth and selective mortality: Thalassoma bifasciatum and Cryptotomus roseus that encountered eddies in the plankton grew faster than larvae outside of eddies and likely experienced higher survival to settlement. During warm periods, T. bifasciatum residing outside of eddies in the oligotrophic Florida Current experienced high mortality and only the slowest growers survived early larval life. Such slow growth is advantageous in nutrient poor habitats when warm temperatures increase metabolic demands but is insufficient for survival beyond the larval stage because only fast-growing larvae successfully settled to reefs. Because larvae arriving to the Straits of Florida from distant sources must spend long periods of time outside of eddies, our results indicate that they have a survival disadvantage. High productivity features such as eddies not only enhance the survival of pelagic larvae, but also potentially increase the contribution of locally spawned larvae to reef populations. population connectivity | selective mortality | otolith microstructure | mesoscale eddies | reef fish settlement

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Encounter with mesoscale eddies enhances survival to settlement in larval coral reef fishes

Shulzitski

Sponaugle

Hauff

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This will be important given that for tropical vagrants, all temperate 'predators' within temperate environments will be novel, with the potential for substantial predation risk within temperate environments. Although contradictory evidence exists McCormick 2009, 2010), numerous studies have reported enhanced survival of recruits and juveniles that were larger for a given age (Sponaugle and Grorud-Covert 2006;Sponaugle et al 2011). Selective mortality has been linked to variation in numerous morphological and physiological traits (Hixon 1991(Hixon , 2011.…”

Section: Section 3: Future Research Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal shifts in coral reef fishes: why some species do and others do not shift

et al. 2013

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Climate change is resulting in rapid poleward shifts in the geographical distribution of many tropical fish species, but it is equally apparent that some fishes are failing to exhibit expected shifts in their geographical distribution. There is still little understanding of the species‐specific traits that may constrain or promote successful establishment of populations in temperate regions. We review the factors likely to affect population establishment, including larval supply, settlement and post‐settlement processes. In addition, we conduct meta‐analyses on existing and new data to examine relationships between species‐specific traits and vagrancy. We show that tropical vagrant species are more likely to originate from high‐latitude populations, while at the demographic level, tropical fish species with large body size, high swimming ability, large size at settlement and pelagic spawning behaviour are more likely to show successful settlement into temperate habitats. We also show that both habitat and food limitation at settlement and within juvenile stages may constrain tropical vagrant communities to those species with medium to low reliance on coral resources.

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“…Gagliano, McCormick & Meekan 2007), but for species with more flexible development time, the trade-off appears to be more complicated. In the bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum), faster growth early in the larval period is associated with higher larval mortality (Sponaugle, Boulay & Rankin 2011), but fish with faster overall larval growth settle in better condition and have higher post-settlement survival (Hamilton 2008;Hamilton, Regetz & Warner 2008). Thus, ELH traits may carry over in unexpected ways, although post-settlement survival is typically condition dependent.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Larval traits carry over to affect post‐settlement behaviour in a common coral reef fish

Dingeldein

White

2016

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Most reef fishes begin life as planktonic larvae before settling to the reef, metamorphosing and entering the benthic adult population. Different selective forces determine survival in the planktonic and benthic life stages, but traits established in the larval stage may carry over to affect post-settlement performance. We tested the hypothesis that larval traits affect two key post-settlement fish behaviours: social group-joining and foraging. Certain larval traits of reef fishes are permanently recorded in the rings in their otoliths. In the bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum), prior work has shown that key larval traits recorded in otoliths (growth rate, energetic condition at settlement) carry over to affect post-settlement survival on the reef, with higher-larval-condition fish experiencing less post-settlement mortality. We hypothesized that this selective mortality is mediated by carry-over effects on post-settlement antipredator behaviours. We predicted that better-condition fish would forage less and be more likely to join groups, both behaviours that would reduce predation risk. We collected 550 recently settled bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) from three reef sites off St. Croix (USVI) and performed two analyses. First, we compared each settler's larval traits to the size of its social group to determine whether larval traits influenced group-joining behaviour. Secondly, we observed foraging behaviour in a subset of grouped and solitary fish (n = 14) for 1-4 days post-settlement. We then collected the fish and tested whether larval traits influenced the proportion of time spent foraging. Body length at settlement, but not condition, affected group-joining behaviour; smaller fish were more likely to remain solitary or in smaller groups. However, both greater length and better condition were associated with greater proportions of time spent foraging over four consecutive days post-settlement. Larval traits carry over to affect post-settlement behaviour, although not as we expected: higher quality larvae join groups more frequently (safer) but then forage more. Foraging is risky but may allow faster post-settlement growth, reducing mortality risk in the long run. This shows that behaviour likely serves as a mechanistic link connecting larval traits to post-settlement selective mortality.

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Growth- and size-selective mortality in pelagic larvae of a common reef fish

Cited by 23 publications

References 54 publications

Encounter with mesoscale eddies enhances survival to settlement in larval coral reef fishes

Encounter with mesoscale eddies enhances survival to settlement in larval coral reef fishes

Latitudinal shifts in coral reef fishes: why some species do and others do not shift

Larval traits carry over to affect post‐settlement behaviour in a common coral reef fish

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Growth- and size-selective mortality in pelagic ­larvae of a common reef fish

Cited by 23 publications

References 54 publications

Encounter with mesoscale eddies enhances survival to settlement in larval coral reef fishes

Encounter with mesoscale eddies enhances survival to settlement in larval coral reef fishes

Latitudinal shifts in coral reef fishes: why some species do and others do not shift

Larval traits carry over to affect post‐settlement behaviour in a common coral reef fish

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Growth- and size-selective mortality in pelagic larvae of a common reef fish