Sex‐ and time‐specific parental effects of warming on reproduction and offspring quality in a coral reef fish

Abstract

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Parents exposed to warming produce offspring lower in weight and condition

“…This means for offspring of parents exposed to an elevated reproductive temperature ( and ), we cannot disentangle the effects of parental reproductive temperature versus early developmental plasticity. Lastly, it is important to note that the hatching data presented in Spinks et al ( 2021 ) were from all first clutches produced during the entire summer breeding season, whereas in this study we present a subset of the clutches that were reared post‐hatching (though results are almost identical). Further details on the F0 and F1 generations and the facilities where they were reared are provided in Spinks et al ( 2021 ).…”

“…We crossed males and females of one family with another, following Figure 1a in Bonduriansky et al ( 2012 ), such that three family crosses from the original six F0 families were formed. Once breeding pairs were successfully established (see Spinks et al, 2021 ), the number of replicate pairs per parental treatment inclusive of families was 19 ( ), 17 ( ), 17 ( ), 10 ( ), 19 ( ), 17 ( ), 11 ( ), 13 ( ). In the Austral summer of 2017/2018, breeding occurred in the F1 generation, although males and females exposed to +1.5°C in both developmental and reproductive life‐stages ( ) did not breed and only one clutch was produced when males developed in control, females developed in +1.5°C, and reproduction was in +1.5°C ( ; Spinks et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Once breeding pairs were successfully established (see Spinks et al, 2021 ), the number of replicate pairs per parental treatment inclusive of families was 19 ( ), 17 ( ), 17 ( ), 10 ( ), 19 ( ), 17 ( ), 11 ( ), 13 ( ). In the Austral summer of 2017/2018, breeding occurred in the F1 generation, although males and females exposed to +1.5°C in both developmental and reproductive life‐stages ( ) did not breed and only one clutch was produced when males developed in control, females developed in +1.5°C, and reproduction was in +1.5°C ( ; Spinks et al, 2021 ). This one clutch experienced exceptionally high embryonic mortality (74%) and was excluded from analyses (Spinks et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In the Austral summer of 2017/2018, breeding occurred in the F1 generation, although males and females exposed to +1.5°C in both developmental and reproductive life‐stages ( ) did not breed and only one clutch was produced when males developed in control, females developed in +1.5°C, and reproduction was in +1.5°C ( ; Spinks et al, 2021 ). This one clutch experienced exceptionally high embryonic mortality (74%) and was excluded from analyses (Spinks et al, 2021 ). Owing to logistics but also following what occurs in the wild, egg clutches were kept with the parents until hatching.…”

“…There was also mortality from two incidents of equipment failure (~3% of juveniles); one caused an ammonia spike (~0.25 ppm) and the other oxygen supersaturation, but deaths were evenly spread across treatments and surviving fish did not appear stressed. The F2 generation were maintained in a 15,000 L recirculating system supplied with a continuous flow of natural seawater with precise temperature control (a smaller replica of the facility described in Spinks et al ( 2021 )). This research was conducted under James Cook University's animal ethics approval A1990, A2210, and A2315.…”