Consequences of elevated CO2 exposure across multiple life stages in a coastal forage fish

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1051-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Murray ◽  
Lee A. Fuiman ◽  
Hannes Baumann

Ocean acidification may impact the fitness of marine fish, however, studies reporting neutral to moderate effects have mostly performed short-term exposures to elevated CO2, whereas longer-term studies across life stages are still scarce. We performed a CO2 exposure experiment, in which a large number (n > 2200) of Atlantic silverside Menidia menidia offspring from wild spawners were reared for 135 days through their embryonic, larval, and juvenile stages under control (500 µatm) and high CO2 conditions (2300 µatm). Although survival was high across treatments, subtle but significant differences in length, weight, condition factor and fatty acid (FA) composition were observed. On average, fish from the acidified treatment were 4% shorter and weighed 6% less, but expressed a higher condition factor than control juveniles. In addition, the metrics of length and weight distributions differed significantly, with juveniles from the high CO2 treatment occupying more extreme size classes and the length distribution shifting to a positive kurtosis. Six of twenty-seven FAs differed significantly between treatments. Our results suggest that high CO2 conditions alter long-term growth in M. menidia, particularly in the absence of excess food. It remains to be shown whether and how these differences will impact fish populations in the wild facing size-selective predation and seasonally varying prey abundance.

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Y Frommel ◽  
Justin Carless ◽  
Brian P V Hunt ◽  
Colin J Brauner

Abstract Pacific salmon stocks are in decline with climate change named as a contributing factor. The North Pacific coast of British Columbia is characterized by strong temporal and spatial heterogeneity in ocean conditions with upwelling events elevating CO2 levels up to 10-fold those of pre-industrial global averages. Early life stages of pink salmon have been shown to be affected by these CO2 levels, and juveniles naturally migrate through regions of high CO2 during the energetically costly phase of smoltification. To investigate the physiological response of out-migrating wild juvenile pink salmon to these naturally occurring elevated CO2 levels, we captured fish in Georgia Strait, British Columbia and transported them to a marine lab (Hakai Institute, Quadra Island) where fish were exposed to one of three CO2 levels (850, 1500 and 2000 μatm CO2) for 2 weeks. At ½, 1 and 2 weeks of exposure, we measured their weight and length to calculate condition factor (Fulton’s K), as well as haematocrit and plasma [Cl−]. At each of these times, two additional stressors were imposed (hypoxia and temperature) to provide further insight into their physiological condition. Juvenile pink salmon were largely robust to elevated CO2 concentrations up to 2000 μatm CO2, with no mortality or change in condition factor over the 2-week exposure duration. After 1 week of exposure, temperature and hypoxia tolerance were significantly reduced in high CO2, an effect that did not persist to 2 weeks of exposure. Haematocrit was increased by 20% after 2 weeks in the CO2 treatments relative to the initial measurements, while plasma [Cl−] was not significantly different. Taken together, these data indicate that juvenile pink salmon are quite resilient to naturally occurring high CO2 levels during their ocean outmigration.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 730-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
David O Conover ◽  
Stephen A Arnott ◽  
Matthew R Walsh ◽  
Stephan B Munch

The potential of fishing mortality to cause rapid evolutionary changes in life history has received relatively little attention. By focusing only on ecological responses, standard fisheries theory and practice implicitly assume either that genetic influences on life history in the wild are negligible or that natural selection and adaptation is a slow process that can be effectively ignored. Lack of contrary evidence has allowed these assumptions to persist. Drawing upon >25 years of research on the Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), we show that adaptive genetic variation in many traits is finely tuned to natural variation in climate. Much of this variation is caused by a gradient in size-selective winter mortality and involves two- to threefold changes in physiological traits that influence population productivity. Many other species are now known to display similar patterns. Harvest experiments show that these traits can evolve rapidly in response to size-selective fishing. Hence, the pool of genotypes that code for life history traits is a highly dynamic property of populations. We argue that the lessons from Menidia are applicable to many exploited species where similar observations would be difficult to obtain and advocate greater use of species models to address fundamental questions in fishery science.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1613-1626 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Chambers ◽  
A. C. Candelmo ◽  
E. A. Habeck ◽  
M. E. Poach ◽  
D. Wieczorek ◽  
...  

Abstract. The limited available evidence about effects on marine fishes of high CO2 and associated acidification of oceans suggests that effects will differ across species, be subtle, and may interact with other stressors. This report is on the responses of an array of early life history features of summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), an ecologically and economically important flatfish of the inshore and nearshore waters of the Mid-Atlantic Bight (USA), to experimental manipulation of CO2 levels. Relative survival of summer flounder embryos in local ambient conditions (775 μatm pCO2, 7.8 pH) was reduced to 48% when maintained at intermediate experimental conditions (1808 μatm pCO2, 7.5 pH), and to 16% when maintained at the most elevated CO2 treatment (4714 ppm pCO2, 7.1 pH). This pattern of reduced survival of embryos at high-CO2 levels at constant temperature was consistent among offspring of three females used as experimental subjects. No reduction in survival with CO2 was observed for larvae during the first four weeks of larval life (experiment ended at 28 d post-hatching (dph) when larvae were initiating metamorphosis). Estimates of sizes, shapes, and developmental status of larvae based on images of live larvae showed larvae were initially longer and faster growing when reared at intermediate- and high-CO2 levels. This pattern of longer larvae – but with less energy reserves at hatching – was expressed through the first half of the larval period (14 dph). Larvae from the highest-CO2 conditions initiated metamorphosis at earlier ages and smaller sizes than those from intermediate- and ambient-CO2 conditions. Tissue damage was evident in larvae as early as 7 dph from both elevated-CO2 levels. Damage included dilation of liver sinusoids and veins, focal hyperplasia on the epithelium, and separation of the trunk muscle bundles. Cranio-facial features changed with CO2 levels in an age-dependent manner. Skeletal elements of larvae from ambient-CO2 environments were comparable or smaller than those from elevated-CO2 environments when younger (7 and 14 dph) but were larger at developmental stage at older ages (21 to 28 dph), a result consistent with the accelerated size-development trajectory of larvae at higher-CO2 environments based on analysis of external features. The degree of alterations in the survival, growth, and development of early life stages of summer flounder due to elevated-CO2 levels suggests that this species will be increasingly challenged by future ocean acidification. Further experimental studies on marine fishes and comparative analyses among those studies are warranted in order to identify the species, life stages, ecologies, and responses likely to be most sensitive to increased levels of CO2 and acidity in future ocean waters. A strategy is proposed for achieving these goals.


Diversity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Murray ◽  
Hannes Baumann

Concurrent ocean warming and acidification demand experimental approaches that assess biological sensitivities to combined effects of these potential stressors. Here, we summarize five CO2 × temperature experiments on wild Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia, offspring that were reared under factorial combinations of CO2 (nominal: 400, 2200, 4000, and 6000 µatm) and temperature (17, 20, 24, and 28 °C) to quantify the temperature-dependence of CO2 effects in early life growth and survival. Across experiments and temperature treatments, we found few significant CO2 effects on response traits. Survival effects were limited to a single experiment, where elevated CO2 exposure reduced embryo survival at 17 and 24 °C. Hatch length displayed CO2 × temperature interactions due largely to reduced hatch size at 24 °C in one experiment but increased length at 28 °C in another. We found no overall influence of CO2 on larval growth or survival to 9, 10, 15 and 13–22 days post-hatch, at 28, 24, 20, and 17 °C, respectively. Importantly, exposure to cooler (17 °C) and warmer (28 °C) than optimal rearing temperatures (24 °C) in this species did not appear to increase CO2 sensitivity. Repeated experimentation documented substantial inter- and intra-experiment variability, highlighting the need for experimental replication to more robustly constrain inherently variable responses. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the early life stages of this ecologically important forage fish appear largely tolerate to even extreme levels of CO2 across a broad thermal regime.


1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saman P. Seneweera ◽  
Oula Ghannoum ◽  
Jann Conroy

The hypothesis that shoot growth responses of C4 grasses to elevated CO2 are dependent on shoot water relations was tested using a C4 grass, Panicum coloratum (NAD-ME subtype). Plants were grown for 35 days at CO2 concentrations of 350 or 1000 µL CO2 L-1. Shoot water relations were altered by growing plants in soil which was brought daily to 65, 80 or 100% field capacity (FC) and by maintaining the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) at 0.9 or 2.1 kPa. At 350 µL CO2 L-1, high VPD and lower soil water content depressed shoot dry mass, which declined in parallel at each VPD with decreasing soil water content. The growth depression at high VPD was associated with increased shoot transpiration, whereas at low soil water, leaf water potential was reduced. Elevated CO2 ameliorated the impact of both stresses by decreasing transpiration rates and raising leaf water potential. Consequently, high CO2 approximately doubled shoot mass and leaf length at a VPD of 2.1 kPa and soil water contents of 65 and 80% FC but had no effect on unstressed plants. Water use efficiency was enhanced by elevated CO2 under conditions of stress but this was primarily due to increases in shoot mass. High CO2 had a greater effect on leaf growth parameters than on stem mass. Elevated CO2 increased specific leaf area and leaf area ratio, the latter at high VPD only. We conclude that high CO2 increases shoot growth of C4 grasses by ameliorating the effects of stress induced by either high VPD or low soil moisture. Since these factors limit growth of field-grown C4 grasses, it is likely that their biomass will be enhanced by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jenna Laurel Fleet

The amount of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) and the acidity of aquatic ecosystems is increasing as atmospheric CO2 concentrations increase due to human activities. Changes in pH and dissolved CO2 can have considerable aversive effects on fish physiology and behaviour, which can result in negative effects on fish populations. Multigenerational studies have found that the conditions experienced by parents can have significant effects on the performance of their offspring and understanding these effects can help to predict how fish populations will cope in future conditions. Additionally, repeatable behavioural phenotypes are good predictors of trends in behaviour, can be useful predictors of other physiological and life history traits, and can be subject to selection pressures. Unfortunately, the effects of elevated CO2 on freshwater fishes over multiple generations, and the effects of behavioural phenotypes, are poorly understood. In my thesis, freshwater Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) were used to investigate the influence of phenotypic variation and differences in time of exposure (generational) on biological responses to elevated CO2. Lab-reared medaka were divided into ‘responsive’ and ‘non-responsive’ groups based on behavioural differences from the population mean during acute exposure to high CO2 in a common shuttling and novel tank behavioural assay. Responsive and non-responsive fish in parental generation (P) were subdivided and exposed to either control (~480 ppm) or high CO2 (~1250 ppm) conditions over a 6-week period. Following this time, eggs from this generation were collected and randomly selected into either high or control conditions, where they were hatched and reared until maturation (filial generation one (F1), 18 weeks). Eggs from F1 were collected and hatched and reared in the same conditions as their parents until adulthood (filial generation two (F2), 24 weeks). Body condition (size, weight and length), behaviour (total distance moved, time spent in the outer zone of the behavioural arena, and swimming direction), reproductive (number of eggs, size of eggs, and survival to hatch) performance, and the relative abundance of various mRNA transcripts in whole brain tissue of fish was measured across these three generations. Behavioural phenotypes influenced reproduction for P and F2 generation fish, and growth for F1 and F2 fish; suggesting that intraspecific variation in behavioural phenotypes may influence how medaka respond to elevated CO2. However, behavioural phenotypes did not have a significant effect on mRNA abundance on genes targeted in my study. Multigenerational exposure to elevated CO2 were shown to improve the performance of offspring in some measures and resulted in changes of mRNA abundance of several genes. Transgenerational exposure, where a parent or grandparent was exposed to elevated CO2 but the offspring were not exposed to elevated CO2, resulted in some deleterious effects suggesting that, generally, exposure to environmental conditions that differ from that of their parents may put fish especially at risk. In my thesis, current CO2 exposure appeared to be the best predictor of overall condition, where fish exposed to elevated CO2 were worse off than fish exposed to control CO2 conditions. The results of this research contribute to filling a current gap of knowledge in understanding how freshwater fish will respond to future conditions over an ecologically-relevant time scale. Importantly, this information will contribute to generating more informed decisions on freshwater ecosystem management and future research directions. Marine and freshwater environments offer food and water security and are of high importance to the economy and the health of our planet, making my research relevant to our broader society.


Author(s):  
B.L. Jat ◽  
P. Pagaria ◽  
A.S. Jat ◽  
H.D. Choudhary ◽  
T. Khan ◽  
...  

The most important factor that affects the crop production in terms of nutritional content of foliar plants is the global climate change. Herbivore’s growth, development, survival and geographical distribution all are determined by elevated CO2 and temperature. The interactions between herbivores and plants have changed due to increasing level of CO2 and temperature. The effect of high CO2 and temperature on grain legume plant which change in to plant physiology (e.g., nutritional content, foliage biomass) and how it change in herbivory metabolism rate and food consumption rate. Plant injury is determined by two factors viz. resistance and tolerance and both are influenced by greater CO2 and temperature. Legumes are an important source of food and feed in the form of proteins and also improve the soil environment. The repercussions of the abiotic factors mentioned above needs discussion among the scientific community. We may able to limit the negative repercussions of stated factors in future breeding projects by harnessing the practical favourable impacts and by including such influences of elevated CO2 and temperature on pulses productivity. The extensive research is necessary to overcome the negative effects of high CO2 and temperature on insect-plant interaction.


2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (7) ◽  
pp. 1009-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia Baumann ◽  
Robert P. Mason ◽  
David O. Conover ◽  
Prentiss Balcom ◽  
Celia Y. Chen ◽  
...  

Human exposure to the neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg) occurs primarily via the consumption of marine fish, but the processes underlying large-scale spatial variations in fish MeHg concentrations [MeHg], which influence human exposure, are not sufficiently understood. We used the Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), an extensively studied model species and important forage fish, to examine latitudinal patterns in total mercury (Hg) [Hg] and [MeHg]. Both [Hg] and [MeHg] significantly increased with latitude (0.014 and 0.048 μg MeHg·g dry weight−1 per degree of latitude in juveniles and adults, respectively). Four known latitudinal trends in silverside traits help explain these patterns: latitudinal increase in MeHg assimilation efficiency, latitudinal decrease in MeHg efflux, latitudinal increase in weight loss due to longer and more severe winters, and latitudinal increase in food consumption as an adaptation to decreasing length of the growing season. Given the absence of a latitudinal pattern in particulate MeHg, a diet proxy for zooplanktivorous fish, we conclude that large-scale spatial variation in growth is the primary control of Hg bioaccumulation in this and potentially other fish species.


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