Potencial effects of climate warming on the reproductive ability and survical of atherinospsid fishes

STRUSSMANN CA; CONOVER DO; SOMOZA GM; MIRANDA LA

Belfast

Simposio; Fisheries Society of the British Isles. Annual International Symposium: Fish and Climate Change; 2010

Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

. Atherinopsid species, commonly referred to as silversides, are distributed worldwide from tropical to temperate areas, where they are ecologically important as forage fish and sometimes economically important for the commercial and recreational fisheries. They are largely coastal, marine or estuarine species but some species can be found also in inland, freshwater habitats. Many members of this family have been found to have some degree of temperature-dependent sex determination, by which the phenotypic sex of an individual is determined partly or wholly by the water temperature during the critical time of sex determination early during development. It is also known that prolonged exposure to high temperature can induce progressive loss of germ cells up to sterilization in members of this group. These biological attributes of the Atherinopsidae seem to place them in an unfavorable position to face the continuing trend in global warming and changing climate. Here we review the current knowledge on the sex determination systems and on the effects of temperature on the reproduction of Atherinopsid species. We draw examples from laboratory and field studies on the physiological, behavioral, and ecological responses of silversides to temperature and discuss the possibility that reproductive dysfunctions leading to population collapses in this group of fishes may become recurrent with further global warming. Atherinopsid species, commonly referred to as silversides, are distributed worldwide from tropical to temperate areas, where they are ecologically important as forage fish and sometimes economically important for the commercial and recreational fisheries. They are largely coastal, marine or estuarine species but some species can be found also in inland, freshwater habitats. Many members of this family have been found to have some degree of temperature-dependent sex determination, by which the phenotypic sex of an individual is determined partly or wholly by the water temperature during the critical time of sex determination early during development. It is also known that prolonged exposure to high temperature can induce progressive loss of germ cells up to sterilization in members of this group. These biological attributes of the Atherinopsidae seem to place them in an unfavorable position to face the continuing trend in global warming and changing climate. Here we review the current knowledge on the sex determination systems and on the effects of temperature on the reproduction of Atherinopsid species. We draw examples from laboratory and field studies on the physiological, behavioral, and ecological responses of silversides to temperature and discuss the possibility that reproductive dysfunctions leading to population collapses in this group of fishes may become recurrent with further global warming.