Effects of Environmental Conditions on Larval Growth and Development

• Main Authors: Zeng, Chaoshu, Rotllant, Guiomar, Giménez, Luis, Romano, Nicholas
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2020
• Subjects: Ocean acidification; Copepods
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190648954.003.0007; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/57899262/oso-9780190648954-chapter-7.pdf

Abstract The vast majority of crustaceans are aquatic, living in either marine or freshwater environments. Marine crustaceans—such as copepods, in particular—are ubiquitous in the oceans and perhaps the most numerous metazoans on Earth. Because crustaceans occur in all marine habitats, their larvae are exposed to highly diverse and sometimes variable environmental conditions, including extreme situations in which various environmental factors exert significant effects on larval growth and development. This chapter first describes the effects of food availability on crustacean larvae. Food paucity is a commonly occurring scenario in the wild, which can directly affect larval growth and development and, in severe cases, results in mortality. In the subsequent sections, we cover the effects of temperature and salinity—the two most prominent physical parameters in the aquatic environments—on growth and development of crustacean larvae. We then discuss the influence of other important physicochemical factors in aquatic environments on larval growth and development, including dissolved oxygen, light, ocean acidification, and pollutants. Finally, the last two sections of this chapter discuss synergistic effects of different environmental factors and suggest future research directions in this field.