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Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem

Ectotherms are predicted to ‘shrink’ with global warming, in line with general growth models and the temperature-size rule (TSR), both predicting smaller adult sizes with warming. However, they also predict faster juvenile growth rates and thus larger size-at-age of young organisms. Hence, the resul...

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Autores principales: Lindmark, Max, Karlsson, Malin, Gårdmark, Anna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10168697/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37157843
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.82996
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author Lindmark, Max
Karlsson, Malin
Gårdmark, Anna
author_facet Lindmark, Max
Karlsson, Malin
Gårdmark, Anna
author_sort Lindmark, Max
collection PubMed
description Ectotherms are predicted to ‘shrink’ with global warming, in line with general growth models and the temperature-size rule (TSR), both predicting smaller adult sizes with warming. However, they also predict faster juvenile growth rates and thus larger size-at-age of young organisms. Hence, the result of warming on the size-structure of a population depends on the interplay between how mortality rate, juvenile- and adult growth rates are affected by warming. Here, we use two-decade long time series of biological samples from a unique enclosed bay heated by cooling water from a nearby nuclear power plant to become 5–10 °C warmer than its reference area. We used growth-increment biochronologies (12,658 reconstructed length-at-age estimates from 2426 individuals) to quantify how >20 years of warming has affected body growth, size-at-age, and catch to quantify mortality rates and population size- and age structure of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis). In the heated area, growth rates were faster for all sizes, and hence size-at-age was larger for all ages, compared to the reference area. While mortality rates were also higher (lowering mean age by 0.4 years), the faster growth rates lead to a 2 cm larger mean size in the heated area. Differences in the size-spectrum exponent (describing how the abundance declines with size) were less clear statistically. Our analyses reveal that mortality, in addition to plastic growth and size-responses, is a key factor determining the size structure of populations exposed to warming. Understanding the mechanisms by which warming affects the size- and the age structure of populations is critical for predicting the impacts of climate change on ecological functions, interactions, and dynamics.
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spelling pubmed-101686972023-05-10 Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem Lindmark, Max Karlsson, Malin Gårdmark, Anna eLife Ecology Ectotherms are predicted to ‘shrink’ with global warming, in line with general growth models and the temperature-size rule (TSR), both predicting smaller adult sizes with warming. However, they also predict faster juvenile growth rates and thus larger size-at-age of young organisms. Hence, the result of warming on the size-structure of a population depends on the interplay between how mortality rate, juvenile- and adult growth rates are affected by warming. Here, we use two-decade long time series of biological samples from a unique enclosed bay heated by cooling water from a nearby nuclear power plant to become 5–10 °C warmer than its reference area. We used growth-increment biochronologies (12,658 reconstructed length-at-age estimates from 2426 individuals) to quantify how >20 years of warming has affected body growth, size-at-age, and catch to quantify mortality rates and population size- and age structure of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis). In the heated area, growth rates were faster for all sizes, and hence size-at-age was larger for all ages, compared to the reference area. While mortality rates were also higher (lowering mean age by 0.4 years), the faster growth rates lead to a 2 cm larger mean size in the heated area. Differences in the size-spectrum exponent (describing how the abundance declines with size) were less clear statistically. Our analyses reveal that mortality, in addition to plastic growth and size-responses, is a key factor determining the size structure of populations exposed to warming. Understanding the mechanisms by which warming affects the size- and the age structure of populations is critical for predicting the impacts of climate change on ecological functions, interactions, and dynamics. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2023-05-09 /pmc/articles/PMC10168697/ /pubmed/37157843 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.82996 Text en © 2023, Lindmark et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Lindmark, Max
Karlsson, Malin
Gårdmark, Anna
Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
title Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
title_full Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
title_fullStr Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
title_full_unstemmed Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
title_short Larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
title_sort larger but younger fish when growth outpaces mortality in heated ecosystem
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10168697/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37157843
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.82996
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