Temperature, Acidification, and Food Supply Interact to Negatively Affect the Growth and Survival of the Forage Fish, Menidia beryllina (Inland Silverside), and Cyprinodon variegatus (Sheepshead Minnow)

Abstract

Climate change processes are warming, acidifying, and promoting a reduction of plankton biomass within World oceans. While the effects of these stressors on marine fish have been studied individually, their combined and interactive impacts remain unclear. Here we present experiments investigating the interactive effects of increased pCO 2, temperature, and food-limitation on the early life history traits of two species of marine schooling fish native to Northeast US estuaries, Menidia beryllina (inland silverside) and Cyprinodon variegatus (sheepshead minnow). While each stressor significantly altered hatching times, growth rates, and/or survival of fish, significant interactions between stressors resulted in impacts that could not have been predicted based upon exposures to individual stressors. Fish that were unaffected by high pCO 2 when reared at ideal temperatures experienced significant declines in survivorship when exposed to elevated pCO 2 at temperatures above or below their thermal optimum. Similarly, fish provided with less food were more vulnerable to elevated pCO 2 than fish provided with adequate nutrition. These findings highlight the significance of incorporating multiple stressors in studies investigating the impacts of climate change stressors on marine life. Collectively, these results suggest that climate change stressors may interact to synergistically suppress the productivity of fisheries in coastal ecosystems and that these effects may intensify as climate changes continue.

You Better Repeat It: Complex CO2 × Temperature Effects in Atlantic Silverside Offspring Revealed by Serial Experimentation

“…Across experiments, CO 2 responses were highly complex, consistent with previous OA studies on silverside offspring [58,59,61]. Experiments produced functionally different outcomes within equivalent treatment conditions despite meticulously controlled experimental conditions.…”

“…For example, exposure to acidification and warming reduced hatch size and larval survival in the Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) [14] and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) [80]. In the congeneric M. beryllina, a large reduction in survival was found when simultaneously exposed to high-CO 2 and 29 • C [59]. The CO 2 × temperature tolerance demonstrated by M. menidia offspring is likely a manifestation of conditions widely experienced by wild silverside early life stages.…”

Divergent responses of Atlantic cod to ocean acidification and food limitation

“…Most of the studies on the effect of ocean acidification on larval fishes have been using ad libitum or generally high food densities that are unrealistic in nature. Only recently studies have taken the possible interaction of CO 2 level and food supply into consideration, assuming that ad libitum food availability could potentially compensate for any direct effect of CO 2 on survival, growth and development (Gobler, Merlo, Morrell, & Griffith, 2018;Hurst, Laurel, Hanneman, Haines, & Ottmar, 2017;Sswat, Stiasny, Taucher et al, 2018;Stiasny et al, 2018). Kreiss et al (2015) have hypothesized that ocean acidification increases costs for osmoregulation and baseline energy demands in adult cod.…”

Critically examining the knowledge base required to mechanistically project climate impacts: A case study of Europe's fish and shellfish

“…Recent studies, however, have documented that CC‐related changes in aquatic habitats (e.g., strong heat waves) have had rapid (within generation) impacts on populations (Oliver et al., ). In such cases, empirical data from controlled laboratory studies (e.g., survival time at suboptimally warm temperatures), may be well suited to anticipating future climate impacts (Gobler, Merlo, Morrell, & Griffith, ; Peck et al., ; Portner & Farrell, ; Woodward, Perkins, & Brown, ). In most cases, however, the results of laboratory studies and field observations should be combined to gain a mechanistic (cause‐and‐effect; Cheung et al., ; Portner & Farrell, ) understanding to be used in theoretical models projecting climate impacts.…”