Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P012183/1
Climate related size shifts in aquatic species: mechanism, prediction and mitigation
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor D Pond, Scottish Association For Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor D Atkinson, University of Liverpool, Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor M Burrows, University of the Highlands and Islands, Scottish Assoc for Marine Science UHI
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor AG Hirst, Nottingham Trent University, Sch of Animal Rural and Env Science
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Panel C
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Climate & Climate Change
- Community Ecology
- Population Ecology
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Abstract:
- Body size is linked to nearly all aspects of an animal's life, be this metabolism, reproduction or survival. Similarly, the structure of food webs, competition, predator-prey interactions and population productivity can all be influenced by body size. For these reasons, body size is often described as a 'master trait', and variation in the size of species has fascinated biologists for over a century. The size at which a species matures can change depending on the environment, and shifts in the size of animals and size-spectra of biological communities as a result of climate change are likely to have worldwide ecological and economic impacts. In ectotherms, individuals of the same species regularly grow to a smaller adult body size in the warm than in the cold when reared in the laboratory. This near-universal biological phenomenon, known as the Temperature-Size Rule (TSR), occurs in over 80% of ectothermic species, from bacteria to fish and amphibians. Similar patterns in body size have also been seen in nature; larger species are often found at higher colder latitudes, whilst adult body size has been shown to vary seasonally with temperature over an annual cycle, as subsequent generations experience different environmental conditions during growth and development. With average global temperatures predicted to rise by more than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, reduced body size has been described as the third universal response to climate warming. Size reduction with warming is much greater for aquatic species than for species living in air. This has been attributed to oxygen availability, which is much more limiting in water than in air. Consequently, aquatic species struggle most to meet their metabolic demands in the warm, and growing to a smaller adult size is thought to be an adaptive response to cope. In addition, reduced oxygen availability independent of temperature has also been shown to decrease size at maturity. Deoxygenation is increasing in geographic extent and severity in regions of the world's oceans and in freshwater systems, and is predicted to significantly worsen over the coming decades. Clearly, climate warming combined with reductions in oxygen concentrations present a double jeopardy to aquatic species. There is an urgent need to quantify, understand, predict and develop mitigation strategies to deal with warming and oxygen-induced changes in body size in aquatic ecosystems. Our proposed research aims to tackle these issues by addressing the following key questions: Q1. How do changes in temperature and oxygen concentration influence body size in ecologically and economically important but under-represented aquatic species, and do aquatic species adapted to environments with low and high oxygen availability adjust their size differently? Q2. How have body sizes changed in aquatic species in relation to temperature and oxygen availability over recent decades? Are these responses similar to patterns observed in the laboratory and across seasons and latitudes? We cannot rely on laboratory and seasonal estimates to predict future shifts in size. Describing body size changes over decades in natural populations is a critical next step, and importantly, will increase the accuracy and reliability of our predictions. Q3. What are the most important traits (e.g. feeding mode, reproductive strategy, mortality risk) associated with variation in the strength of temperature- and oxygen-induced body size change, and can we use this information to accurately predict body size change in the future? Q4. Does body size reduction with warming fully compensate for increased metabolic demand at higher temperatures, and how might this affect the total productivity and efficiency of transfer from food to flesh that can be supported in warmer conditions? Can we use this information to contribute to informed decision making in the aquaculture and fisheries industries?
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P012183/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £650,381
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £65,918 | £202,565 | £81,899 | £210,534 | £59,546 | £28,497 | £1,422 |
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