EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Phenotypic responses in fish behaviour narrow as climate ramps up

Almendra Rodriguez-Dominguez, Sean D. Connell, Ericka O. C. Coni, Minami Sasaki, David J. Booth and Ivan Nagelkerken ()
Additional contact information
Almendra Rodriguez-Dominguez: School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, DX 650 418, The University of Adelaide
Sean D. Connell: School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, DX 650 418, The University of Adelaide
Ericka O. C. Coni: School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, DX 650 418, The University of Adelaide
Minami Sasaki: School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, DX 650 418, The University of Adelaide
David J. Booth: School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
Ivan Nagelkerken: School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, DX 650 418, The University of Adelaide

Climatic Change, 2022, vol. 171, issue 1, No 19, 18 pages

Abstract: Abstract Natural selection alters the distribution of phenotypes as animals adjust their behaviour and physiology to environmental change. We have little understanding of the magnitude and direction of environmental filtering of phenotypes, and therefore how species might adapt to future climate, as trait selection under future conditions is challenging to study. Here, we test whether climate stressors drive shifts in the frequency distribution of behavioural and physiological phenotypic traits (17 fish species) at natural analogues of climate change (CO2 vents and warming hotspots) and controlled laboratory analogues (mesocosms and aquaria). We discovered that fish from natural populations (4 out of 6 species) narrowed their phenotypic distribution towards behaviourally bolder individuals as oceans acidify, representing loss of shyer phenotypes. In contrast, ocean warming drove both a loss (2/11 species) and gain (2/11 species) of bolder phenotypes in natural and laboratory conditions. The phenotypic variance within populations was reduced at CO2 vents and warming hotspots compared to control conditions, but this pattern was absent from laboratory systems. Fishes that experienced bolder behaviour generally showed increased densities in the wild. Yet, phenotypic alterations did not affect body condition, as all 17 species generally maintained their physiological homeostasis (measured across 5 different traits). Boldness is a highly heritable trait that is related to both loss (increased mortality risk) and gain (increased growth, reproduction) of fitness. Hence, climate conditions that mediate the relative occurrence of shy and bold phenotypes may reshape the strength of species interactions and consequently alter fish population and community dynamics in a future ocean.

Keywords: Behaviour; Boldness; CO2 vents; Ocean acidification; Ocean warming; Phenotypic plasticity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-022-03341-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:climat:v:171:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-022-03341-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10584

DOI: 10.1007/s10584-022-03341-y

Access Statistics for this article

Climatic Change is currently edited by M. Oppenheimer and G. Yohe

More articles in Climatic Change from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-20
Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:171:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-022-03341-y