Author(s):
Lopes, Ana F. ; Murdoch, Robyn ; Martins-Cardoso, Sara ; Madeira, Carolina ; Costa, Pedro M. ; Félix, Ana S. ; Oliveira, Rui F. ; Bandarra, Narcisa M. ; Vinagre, Catarina ; Lopes, Ana R. ; Gonçalves, Emanuel J. ; Faria, Ana Margarida
Date: 2022
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/145691
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Project/scholarship:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT//SFRH%2FBD%2F131592%2F2017/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UID%2FMAR%2F04292%2F2013/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/9471 - RIDTI/PTDC%2FCTA-AMB%2F31532%2F2017/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F04378%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/CEEC IND 2018/CEECIND%2F01526%2F2018%2FCP1564%2FCT0008/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/CEEC IND 2018/CEECIND%2F00067%2F2018%2FCP1534%2FCT0010/PT;
Subject(s): behaviour; food availability; ocean warming; Pomatochistus flavescens; reproduction; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Aquatic Science; Ecology; SDG 13 - Climate Action; SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Description
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Climate change is a growing threat to marine organisms and ecosystems, and it is already modifying ocean properties by, for example, increasing temperature and decreasing pH. Increasing water temperature may also lead to an impairment of primary productivity and an overall depletion of available zooplankton. Understanding how the crossover between warming and zooplankton availability impacts fish populations has paramount implications for conservation and mitigation strategies. Through a cross factorial design to test the effects of ocean temperature and food availability in a temperate marine teleost, Pomatochistus flavescens, we showed that hindered feeding impacted sheltering and avoidance behaviour. Also, low food availability impaired fish reproduction, particularly male reproduction, as the expression of cyp11b1, a gene with a pivotal role in the synthesis of the most important fish androgen, 11-ketotestosterone, was significantly reduced under a low food regime. In contrast, temperature alone did not affect reproductive success, but offspring showed increased saturated fatty acid content (embryos) and increased lipid peroxidation (larvae). Altogether, food availability had a stronger effect on fitness, showing that coping with elevated temperatures, an ability that may be expected in shallow-water fish, can be indirectly impacted, or even overwhelmed, by the effects of ocean warming on primary productivity and downstream ecological processes.
