Experimental data testing CO2 × heatwave effects in Pacific herring offspring including data on vital rates and experimental conditions

• Main Author: Murray, Christopher
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Pacific; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6320790; https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q573n5tkw

Forage fish tend to respond strongly to environmental variability and therefore may be particularly sensitive to marine climate stressors. We used controlled laboratory experiments to assess the vulnerability of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) embryos to the combined effects of high pCO2 and a simulated marine heatwave. The two pCO2 treatments reflected current conditions (~550 µatm) and a future extreme level (~2,300 µatm). The dynamics of heatwave (i.e., rate of onset: ~0.85°C d-1; maximum intensity: +4.4°C) were modeled from the most extreme events detected by a long-term regional temperature dataset. Simultaneous exposure to these potential stressors did not affect embryo survival. However, the heatwave did elicit significant metabolic effects that included higher rates of routine metabolism (Q10 = 1.15 - 1.72), growth (Q10 = 1.87), rate of development to hatch (Q10 = 3.01), and yolk consumption (Q10 = 3.21) as well as a significant reduction in production efficiency (-10.8%) and a three-fold increase in the rate of developmental anomalies. By contrast, high pCO2 conditions produced comparatively small effects to vital rates, including a significant increase in time to hatch (+0.88 d) and a reduction in routine metabolic rate (-6.3%) under the ambient temperature regime only. We found no evidence that high pCO2 increased routine metabolic rate at either temperature. These results indicate that Pacific herring embryos possess sufficient physiological plasticity to cope with extreme seawater acidification under optimal and heatwave temperature conditions, although lingering metabolic inefficiencies induced by the heatwave may lead to important carry-over effects in later life-stages. Funding provided by: Washington Ocean Acidification Center*Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: