Manipulating thermal stress on rocky shores to predict patterns of recruitment of marine invertebrates under a changing climate

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 467:121-136 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09996 Manipulating thermal stress on rocky shores to predict patterns of recruitment of marine invertebrates under a changing climate Justin A. Lathlean*, Todd E. Minchinton Institute for Conservation Biology and Environmental Management & School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia *Email: [e-mail] ABSTRACT: For rocky intertidal organisms, temperature is often considered the most influential factor governing early survival and growth. Nevertheless, our review of the literature revealed that few studies have manipulated temperatures in the field to test for effects on these critical early life history processes. Here, we present the results from a novel manipulation of substratum temperature using settlement plates of different colour (black, grey and white) and infrared measurements of temperature to test hypotheses that temperature influences the early survival and growth of recent settlers of the intertidal barnacle Tesseropora rosea. Mean surface temperatures of black and grey plates were as great as 5.8°C (on average 2.2°C) and 4.8°C (on average 1.6°C) hotter than white plates across the sampling period, respectively. Cooler, white plates had significantly greater settlement and early growth than hotter, black plates, but differences in plate temperature did not significantly influence early survival or recruitment, though patterns were consistent with thermal variability. Comparisons between grey coloured natural rock and plates indicate that grey plates thermally mimic natural rock. Nevertheless, on average, more than twice as many larvae settled on plates than on natural rock, but early post-settlement survival on natural rock was double that on plates, suggesting that this artificial surface may not adequately capture the natural variability in early life history processes. Regardless, our simple and repeatable thermal manipulation represents a useful tool for experimentally investigating the effects of temperature on recruitment processes and simulating future temperature variability associated with climate change. KEY WORDS: Climate change · Early mortality · Safety Walk® tape · Settlement · Barnacle Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Lathlean JA, Minchinton TE (2012) Manipulating thermal stress on rocky shores to predict patterns of recruitment of marine invertebrates under a changing climate. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 467:121-136. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09996 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 467. Online publication date: October 25, 2012 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.