Elevated CO2 and heatwave conditions affect the aerobic and swimming performance of juvenile Australasian snapper

As climate change advances, coastal marine ecosystems are predicted to experience increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves. At the same time, already variable CO 2 levels in coastal habitats will be exacerbated by ocean acidification. High temperature and elevated CO 2 levels can be stressful to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine biology 2020, Vol.167 (1), Article 6
Main Authors: McMahon, Shannon J., Parsons, Darren M., Donelson, Jennifer M., Pether, Steve M. J., Munday, Philip L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acidification
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carbon dioxide
Climate change
Coastal ecology
Coastal ecosystems
Environmental changes
Fish
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
High temperature
Life Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Sciences
Marine biology
Marine ecosystems
Marine fishes
Marine organisms
Metabolic rate
Metabolism
Microbiology
Ocean acidification
Oceanography
Original Paper
Swimming
Temperature
Zoology
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Summary:As climate change advances, coastal marine ecosystems are predicted to experience increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves. At the same time, already variable CO 2 levels in coastal habitats will be exacerbated by ocean acidification. High temperature and elevated CO 2 levels can be stressful to marine organisms, especially during critical early life stages. Here, we used a fully cross-factored experiment to test the effects of simulated heatwave conditions (+ 4 °C) and elevated CO 2 (1000 µatm) on the aerobic physiology and swimming performance of juvenile Australasian snapper, Chrysophrys auratus , an ecologically and economically important mesopredatory fish. Both elevated temperature and elevated CO 2 increased resting metabolic rate of juvenile snapper, by 21–22% and 9–10%, respectively. By contrast, maximum metabolic rate was increased by elevated temperature (16–17%) and decreased by elevated CO 2 (14–15%). The differential effects of elevated temperature and elevated CO 2 on maximum metabolic rate resulted in aerobic scope being reduced only in the elevated CO 2 treatment. Critical swimming speed also increased with elevated temperature and decreased with elevated CO 2 , matching the results for maximum metabolic rate. Periods of elevated CO 2 already occur in the coastal habitats occupied by juvenile snapper, and these events will be exacerbated by ongoing ocean acidification. Our results show that elevated CO 2 has a greater effect on metabolic rates and swimming performance than heatwave conditions for juvenile snapper, and could reduce their overall performance and potentially have negative consequences for population recruitment.
ISSN:0025-3162
1432-1793
DOI:10.1007/s00227-019-3614-1