Large but uneven reduction in fish size across species in relation to changing sea temperatures

Rijn, Itai van; Buba, Yehezkel; DeLong, John P.; Kiflawi, Moshe; Belmaker, Jonathan

doi:10.1111/gcb.13688

Cited by 74 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…While the OCLTT is only tangentially related to body size, it nonetheless presents oxygen supply as the main determinant of an organism's performance. The central tenet of all these hypotheses, that the ability to supply oxygen does not scale with body size as fast as the demand does, and that this limitation intensifies at higher temperatures, is often invoked in ecological studies to explain observed decreases in body size, including by the authors of this study (Baudron et al, 2014;Morrongiello, Walsh, Gray, Stocks, & Crook, 2014;van Rijn et al, 2017;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Declining body size is recognized as a universal response of ectotherms to global warming (Daufresne, Lengfellner, & Sommer, ). Body size reduction is particularly fast in aquatic environments (Forster & Hirst, ; Horne, Hirst, Atkinson, & Enquist, ), where sizes of fishes and other ectotherms have declined in the range of 5%–20% over the last few decades (Audzijonyte et al, ; Baudron, Needle, Rijnsdorp, & Marshall, ; van Rijn, Buba, DeLong, Kiflawi, & Belmaker, ). Whilst harvest‐induced changes in body sizes and growth rates (either phenotypic or evolutionary) are likely to be partly responsible (Audzijonyte, Kuparinen, & Fulton, ; Sharpe & Hendry, ), the rate of the observed decline seems much faster than expected from evolutionary responses alone (Audzijonyte et al, ) and in some species it does not correlate to the fishing mortality rate (Baudron et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is oxygen limitation in warming waters a valid mechanism to explain decreased body sizes in aquatic ectotherms?

Audzijonytė

Barneche

Baudron

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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124

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Aim The negative correlation between temperature and body size of ectothermic animals (broadly known as the temperature‐size rule or TSR) is a widely observed pattern, especially in aquatic organisms. Studies have claimed that the TSR arises due to decreased oxygen solubility and increasing metabolic costs at warmer temperatures, whereby oxygen supply to a large body becomes increasingly difficult. However, mixed empirical evidence has led to a controversy about the mechanisms affecting species’ size and performance under different temperatures. We review the main competing genetic, physiological and ecological explanations for the TSR and suggest a roadmap to move the field forward. Location Global. Taxa Aquatic ectotherms. Time period 1980–present. Results We show that current studies cannot discriminate among alternative hypotheses and none of the hypotheses can explain all TSR‐related observations. To resolve this impasse, we need experiments and field‐sampling programmes that specifically compare alternative mechanisms and formally consider energetics related to growth costs, oxygen supply and behaviour. We highlight the distinction between evolutionary and plastic mechanisms, and suggest that the oxygen limitation debate should separate processes operating on short, decadal and millennial time‐scales. Conclusions Despite decades of research, we remain uncertain whether the TSR is an adaptive response to temperature‐related physiological (enzyme activity) or ecological changes (food, predation and other mortality), or a response to constraints operating at a cellular level (oxygen supply and associated costs). To make progress, ecologists, physiologists, modellers and geneticists should work together to develop a cross‐disciplinary research programme that integrates theory and data, explores time‐scales over which the TSR operates, and assesses limits to adaptation or plasticity. We identify four questions for such a programme. Answering these questions is crucial given the widespread impacts of climate change and reliance of management on models that are highly dependent on accurate representation of ecological and physiological responses to temperature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is oxygen limitation in warming waters a valid mechanism to explain decreased body sizes in aquatic ectotherms?

Audzijonytė

Barneche

Baudron

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

Self Cite

124

161

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Hawaii, for instance, climate change coupled with introduced diseases such as avian malaria has been implicated in the loss of native birds (Atkinson & LaPointe, ). In the eastern Mediterranean Sea, warming water has been accompanied by invasions of tropical species via the Suez canal (Azzurro, Maynou, Belmaker, Golani, & Crooks, ; Rijn, Buba, DeLong, Kiflawi, & Belmaker, ). And across continents, pollution and fishing threaten penguin populations already stressed by climate change (Trathan et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐offs between morphology and thermal niches mediate adaptation in response to competing selective pressures

Uiterwaal

Lagerstrom

Luhring

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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The effects of climate change—such as increased temperature variability and novel predators—rarely happen in isolation, but it is unclear how organisms cope with multiple stressors simultaneously. To explore this, we grew replicate Paramecium caudatum populations in either constant or variable temperatures and exposed half to predation. We then fit thermal performance curves (TPCs) of intrinsic growth rate (rmax) for each replicate population (N = 12) across seven temperatures (10°C–38°C). TPCs of P. caudatum exposed to both temperature variability and predation responded only to one or the other (but not both), resulting in unpredictable outcomes. These changes in TPCs were accompanied by changes in cell morphology. Although cell volume was conserved across treatments, cells became narrower in response to temperature variability and rounder in response to predation. Our findings suggest that predation and temperature variability produce conflicting pressures on both thermal performance and cell morphology. Lastly, we found a strong correlation between changes in cell morphology and TPC parameters in response to predation, suggesting that responses to opposing selective pressures could be constrained by trade‐offs. Our results shed new light on how environmental and ecological pressures interact to elicit changes in characteristics at both the individual and population levels. We further suggest that morphological responses to interactive environmental forces may modulate population‐level responses, making prediction of long‐term responses to environmental change challenging.

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“…In support of a role of oxygen in setting body size limits, we previously showed that the TSR in a freshwater isopod crustacean was manifested most strongly under hypoxic conditions, whereas hyperoxia could reverse the TSR (Hoefnagel & Verberk, ). Recent studies have also highlighted the potential role of oxygen in setting body size limits (DeLong et al., ; van Rijn, Buba, DeLong, Kiflawi, & Belmaker, ; Walczyńska & Sobczyk, ) shifting the focus toward explanations for a TSR to asymptotic size. von Bertalanffy's model provides an explanation for smaller asymptotic size in warmer environments, but does not make explicit predictions about the effect of temperature on size at maturity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The temperature‐size rule in Daphnia magna across different genetic lines and ontogenetic stages: Multiple patterns and mechanisms

Hoefnagel

Vries

Jongejans

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Ectotherms tend to grow faster, but reach a smaller size when reared under warmer conditions. This temperature‐size rule (TSR) is a widespread phenomenon. Despite the generality of this pattern, no general explanation has been found. We therefore tested the relative importance of two proposed mechanisms for the TSR: (1) a stronger increase in development rate relative to growth rate at higher temperatures, which would cause a smaller size at maturity, and (2) resource limitation placing stronger constraints on growth in large individuals at higher temperatures, which would cause problems with attaining a large size in warm conditions. We raised Daphnia magna at eight temperatures to assess their size at maturity, asymptotic size, and size of their offspring. We used three clonal lines that differed in asymptotic size and growth rate. A resource allocation model was developed and fitted to our empirical data to explore the effect of both mechanisms for the TSR. The genetic lines of D. magna showed different temperature dependence of growth and development rates resulting in different responses for size at maturity. Also, at warm temperatures, growth was constrained in large, but not in small individuals. The resource allocation model could fit these empirical data well. Based on our empirical results and model explorations, the TSR of D. magna at maturity is best explained by a stronger increase in development rate relative to growth rate at high temperature, and the TSR at asymptotic size is best explained by a size‐dependent and temperature‐dependent constraint on growth, although resource limitation could also affect size at maturity. In conclusion, the TSR can take different forms for offspring size, size at maturity, and asymptotic size and each form can arise from its own mechanism, which could be an essential step toward finding a solution to this century‐old puzzle.

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Large but uneven reduction in fish size across species in relation to changing sea temperatures

Cited by 74 publications

References 41 publications

Is oxygen limitation in warming waters a valid mechanism to explain decreased body sizes in aquatic ectotherms?

Is oxygen limitation in warming waters a valid mechanism to explain decreased body sizes in aquatic ectotherms?

Trade‐offs between morphology and thermal niches mediate adaptation in response to competing selective pressures

The temperature‐size rule in Daphnia magna across different genetic lines and ontogenetic stages: Multiple patterns and mechanisms

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