Event Abstract

Can climate change affect dispersal capabilities? Latitudinal variation in the pelagic larval duration, date of hatching and other early-life traits of some temperate littoral fishes.

  • 1 Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Acuatic Ecology, Spain

Climate warming can affect numerous life aspects in most marine species. The Planktonic Larval Duration (PLD) can be strongly influenced by sea-surface temperature (SST), potentially affecting the dispersal capabilities of fishes. Longer dispersal duration should result in increasing dispersal distance, facilitating connectivity among populations. In the Mediterranean Sea projected SST values according to the IPCC A2 scenario will increase ca. 2.8° C over the whole Mediterranean Sea at the end of the 21st century. Latitudinal gradients in SST from the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean) and Alboran Sea have a difference of ca. 4ºC and may be useful for predicting the likely responses of marine species to global warming. Here, we examined differences in early life-history traits of some littoral fishes of the families Labridae and Sparidae. Recently settled juveniles were collected and otolith microstructure was analysed to estimate pelagic larval duration (PLD), hatching season, size at hatching, mean daily growth, and size at settlement. PLD declined with increasing temperature. For instance, Symphodus ocellatus showed a PLD of 10.3 days in the coldest area and 8.6 days in the warmest locality. A similar pattern was observed in other species, e.g. Oblada melanura, 14.0 days in the warmest area and 16.5 days in the coldest, and 22.6 days and 19.5 days, respectively, in Diplodus puntazzo. Mean larval growth and size at settlement increased with increasing temperature. These differences were not observed in the size at hatching. The hatching season started one month earlier in the warmest area than in the coldest area.

Keywords: Fishes, Pelagic larval duration, Climate Change, Mediterranean Sea, settlement

Conference: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Topic: 2. GLOBAL CHANGES, INVASIVE SPECIES AND CONSERVATION

Citation: Macpherson E, Raventos N and Alcoverro T (2016). Can climate change affect dispersal capabilities? Latitudinal variation in the pelagic larval duration, date of hatching and other early-life traits of some temperate littoral fishes.. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00027

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Received: 05 May 2016; Published Online: 02 Sep 2016.

* Correspondence: Dr. Enrique Macpherson, Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Acuatic Ecology, Blanes, Girona, 17300, Spain, macpherson@ceab.csic.es